Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has invited bids for the operation and maintenance (O&M) of a 25 MW floating solar power project at NTPC Simhadri in Andhra Pradesh for 36 months.

The scope of work includes O&M of the 25 MW floating solar power project for 36 months. The scope includes O&M for the entire project covering the floating solar array on the reservoir, central control room, inverter platform cum transformer yards, and 33 kV power cables laid from the inverter stations along the reservoir.

The project’s estimated cost is ₹39.09 million (~$525,937), and interested bidders will have to submit an amount of ₹500,000 (~$6,727) as earnest money deposit.

The last date to submit the bids is August 17, 2021, and bids will be opened on the same day.

The successful bidder will have to submit 5% of the work order amount as the security deposit, and 50% of the security deposit has to be submitted before starting the work. The balance will be recovered from running bills at the rate of 10% per bill.

To participate in the bidding process, the bidder should have completed three similar works, each costing not less than 40% of the estimated cost or two similar works, each costing not less than 50% of the estimated cost, or one similar work costing not less than 80% of the estimated cost of the contract.

The bidder’s average annual financial turnover must be 30% of the estimated contract value during the last three years.

A penalty of 0.5% per week of delay on the value of the work order will be levied if the vendor fails to start the O&M work within two weeks of the date of the notice.

BHEL had bagged the order for setting up a 25 MW floating solar photovoltaic project located in Simhadri, Andhra Pradesh in July 2019. The following October, it had also issued a tender for the design and supply of solar floatation platforms for the project. BHEL has now set up the project and is looking for O&M service providers. The installation is said to consist of 109,800 solar PV modules that are mounted on floaters supplied by Quant Solar in 10 separate blocks. The turnkey contractor for this project is Arken Solutions.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, BHEL has so far floated O&M tenders for 456.8 MW of solar power projects.