The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has issued a tender for the installation of 3 MW of solar power projects at its Kahalgaon unit, located in Bhagalpur district of Bihar.

The projects will be developed on a turnkey basis. The brief scope of work includes the design, supply, erection, testing, and commissioning of the projects along with three years of operations and maintenance (O&M) services.

The last date for submission of bids is April 22, 2019. The technical bids will open on the same date. To be eligible to bid, a developer must have designed, supplied, installed, and commissioned grid-connected solar projects of a minimum 2.4 MW and they should be in successful operation.

The average annual turnover of the bidder should not be less than ₹171 million (~$ 2.50 million) in the last three financial years.

In the past couple of months, the NTPC has issued a slew of solar tenders for its various sites across the country.

Recently, it issued a tender to install a 900-kW rooftop solar PV system at NTPC-Bongaigaon thermal power project in Kokrajhar district of Assam. In January 2019, it issued a solicitation for 20 MW of grid-connected floating solar projects at its Anta gas power station in Rajasthan.

In December 2018, the NTPC had issued three tenders for floating solar projects- 100 MW at NTPC Ramagundam, located in Telangana; 25 MW  at NTPC Simhadri, located in Andhra Pradesh; and 20 MW at the reservoir of NTPC Auraiya gas power plant.

According to Mercom India Tender Tracker, NTPC has auctioned 895 MW of solar since 2015 for self-use and has been one of the government procurers of solar and also the most sought after due to its credit profile and a history of timely payments.

Recently, Mercom reported that power distribution companies in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka owed NTPC ₹58.38 billion (~$814.99 million) in outstanding power bills (both conventional and solar). A total amount of ₹18.84 billion (~$262.6 million) was due to be paid by DISCOMs to NTPC for solar power supplied under the National Solar Mission (NSM). NTPC had issued a notice to these states warning to curtail power supply in case of non-payment, along with Jammu and Kashmir which had outstanding bills running as high as ₹19.84 billion (~$280.32 million), out of which ₹16.26 billion (~$229.67 million) was pending for more than 60 days.