Assam Power Distribution Company (APDCL) has issued an expression of interest (EoI) to install solar projects of a cumulative capacity of 357 MW on agricultural land within a 5 km radius of 33/11 KV substations.

Each project will be between 500 kW and 2 MW. However, in specific cases, APDCL may also allow implementing projects with a less than 500 kW capacity.

Bids must be submitted by May 8, 2025. Bids will be opened on May 9.

Bidders must furnish an application fee of ₹5,000 (~$58.5)/MW and an earnest money deposit of ₹100,000 (~$1,170.5)/MW as a bank guarantee.

Selected bidders must set up decentralized grid-connected ground or stilt-mounted solar systems at various locations within a 5 km radius of the 33/11 KV substations. They must also ensure adequate arrangements for interconnecting the solar project, metering point, and delivery point with the substations.

Successful bidders must supply the power generated continuously to APDCL for 25 years.

Bidders must be farmers using their barren and uncultivable land for the projects. Cultivable land can be utilized, provided the solar installations are built on stilts, allowing crop growth underneath. The minimum land requirement for a solar pet is 20,067 sq m.

If individual farmers, groups of farmers, cooperatives, panchayats, farmer-producer organizations, or water user associations cannot arrange equity to set up the projects, they can opt to install them through other developers.

Bidders must have a net worth of ₹10 million (~$117,157). However, no financial eligibility is required for farmers, groups of farmers, cooperatives, panchayats, and farmer-producer organizations.

Bidders must have designed, supplied, installed, and commissioned grid-connected solar projects with a minimum capacity of 500 kW in the last seven years. Farmers, groups of farmers, cooperatives, panchayats, farmer-producer organizations, and water user associations will not require technical eligibility.

In March this year, APDCL invited bids to develop a 400 kV/33 kV pooling substation for a 1 GW solar power project in Assam.

Subscribe to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker for timely updates on all solar tenders issued by various agencies in India.