The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has announced yet another bid extension date for its 97.5 MW grid-connected rooftop solar tender.

The tender is for setting up grid-connected rooftop solar PV installations for government buildings across Indian states and union territories.

The bid deadline has now been extended to June 17, 2019, from the last extension date of May 30, 2019. The commencement date for the opening of the techno-commercial bids has been set for June 18, 2019, a SECI notification has informed.

Previously, the last date for bid submission was extended to May 21, 2019, from the earlier deadline of March 27, 2019.

In February 2019, SECI had issued the Request for Selection (RfS) for the implementation of these projects in February 2019. The first category was for 10 MW under CAPEX model (Part-A), the second of 85 MW consisting of RESCO model (Part-B), and third of 2.5 MW comprising CAPEX model (Part-C).

Under Part-A, a bidder is eligible to apply for a minimum aggregate capacity of 100 kW and the maximum aggregate capacity of 1 MW. Under Part-B, a bidder is eligible to apply for a minimum aggregate bid capacity of 1 MW and a maximum aggregate bid capacity of 10 MW. Any bidder eligible for participation in either Part A or B is not allowed to participate in Part C.

The bidding has been split into two categories – general state category and special state category. Only one price would prevail for all the bidders, the size of the projects being 1 kW to 500 kW under Part-A and Part-B, and 1 kW to 25 kW for Part-C, the RfS stipulated.

The ceiling tariff for general category states and union territories was set at ₹3.50 ($0.049)/kWh and for special category states and islands it was ₹3.50 ($0.049)/kWh.

Recently, the deadline for the manufacturing linked solar tender floated by SECI was also extended again for bidder participation. This was the fourth time that SECI decided to extend the bid submission deadline of this tender. The tender was floated for 3 GW of grid-connected solar projects linked with 1.5 GW per annum of solar manufacturing component under global competitive bidding (phase-II). The last date for bid submission has been extended to May 31, 2019, with techno-commercial bids opening on the same day.

Soumik is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Prior to joining Mercom, Soumik was a correspondent for UNI, New Delhi covering the Northeast region for seven years. He has also worked as an Asia Correspondent for Washington DC-based Hundred Reporters. He has contributed as a freelancer to several national and international digital publications with a focus on data-based investigative stories on environmental corruption, hydro power projects, energy transition and the circular economy. Soumik is an Economics graduate from Scottish Church College, Calcutta University.