Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has invited bids to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with vendors for procuring silicon wafers for manufacturing solar cells to meet the annual module manufacturing capacity of 200 MW.

The last date to submit the bids is October 29, 2021, and bids will be opened on the same day.

For contract value above ₹2.5 million (~$33,199), the successful bidder will have to submit an amount of 10% of the contract values as a performance bank guarantee within ten days from the date of the issuance of the letter of award.

The wafers should be free from surface stains, watermarks, chips, breakages, and pinholes.

The wafers should be packed in lots of 100 in carton boxes and should be 156.75 ± 0.25, 157.0 ± 0.25, and 158.75 ± 0.25 mm in dimension.

The total quantity should be delivered within four weeks from the date of the purchase order.

To participate in the bidding process, the bidder must have a minimum manufacturing capacity of 10 million pieces of DWS multicrystalline silicon wafers, or multicrystalline silicon wafers, or DWS multicrystalline silicon metal-catalyzed chemical etching (MCCE) wafers, or monocrystalline silicon wafers annually.

The bidder must have supplied at least one million pieces of diamond wire saw (DWS) multicrystalline silicon ARC coated wafers, or DWS multicrystalline silicon wafers, or DWS multicrystalline silicon MCCE wafers, or monocrystalline silicon wafers to any Indian cell manufacturer or manufacturer of other than the country of origin of the vendor during the last two years.

The original equipment manufacturer should have a well-established in-house testing facility with the requisite workforce to carry out routine in-process and finished product testing.

Purchase from special economic zones (SEZs) in India will be considered indigenous purchase for preference to the ‘Make in India’ policy.

BHEL has stated that 25% of the tendered quantity has been reserved for micro and small enterprise (MSE) suppliers. Out of the 25% tendered quantity reserved for MSE suppliers, 6.25% has been earmarked for procurement by MSEs owned by Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs, and 3% has been reserved for women-owned MSEs.

If the MSE vendor participating in the tender quotes within the price band of lowest (L1) + 15%, he will be allowed to supply 25% of the requirement subject to the acceptance of the L1 price.

In the case of delayed delivery, the vendor will have to pay 0.5% of the total contract price per week, subject to a maximum of 10% of the total contract value as liquidated damages.

In August this year, BHEL invited bids to enter into an MoU with vendors to procure multicrystalline and monocrystalline passivated emitter and rear cells (PERC) cells for manufacturing solar modules to meet the requirements annual capacity of 200 MW.

Earlier, BHEL had issued a tender inviting quotations for the manufacturing and supply of 4,500,000 DWS multi silicon solar wafers with a specification of 157-millimeters.

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