The Railway Energy Management Company Limited (REMCL), a joint venture of the Indian Railways and RITES Limited, has invited bids to set up 60.17 MW of rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity on the rooftops of offices, buildings, and railway establishments across the zonal railways in India. The bid submission deadline is April 30, 2019.

The rooftop solar PV projects are to be developed on ‘Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis. A single bidder can bid for one or multiple zones, but they must bid for the entire capacity offered for a particular zone.

Successful bidders will need to enter into a 25-year power purchase agreements with the zonal railways for which they won the contract.

After 25 years, the zonal railway can examine the need for upgrading the system or renovation and modernization of the existing system depending on technological options available at that time.  After mutual consent, the developer will need to execute on the upgrades. Any maintenance after that will be ensured by the zonal railways.

REMCL has set ₹1.2 million (~$17025.60)/MW as the earnest money deposit for this tender.

Mercom previously reported that the Indian Railways is continuing its efforts to add solar capacity for its electricity requirements. Railways are the single largest consumer of electricity in the country, with roughly 2 percent share of national energy consumption. It also plans to become a net-zero carbon emitter by 2030.

In January 2019, REMCL had invited bids for setting up of 2 MW of solar projects along the Delhi-Ambala railway track. Earlier, REMCL had also invited bids for a 50 MW solar project on railways land at Bhilai, Chhattisgarh. Indian Railways plans to tender 5 GW of solar to cut down in power costs. The 5 GW capacity will consist of utility-scale and rooftop solar power projects.