Bihar Sharif Smart City Limited has invited bids for 2 MW of solar projects to be developed on turnkey basis. Bihar Sharif is a town located in Nalanda district of Bihar.

The total cost of the project is estimated to be ₹130 million (~$1.84 million). The successful bidder will get 12 months for completing the project.

The scope of work includes the supply, design, engineering, manufacturing, installation, and commissioning of the project. A bidder will also have to provide operations and maintenance (O&M) services for a period of 25 years.

The last date for bid submission is February 5, 2019. The technical bids will open on February 8, 2019.

The Bihar Sharif Smart City Limited has also invited bids for the construction of an e-rickshaw charging station. To participate, a bidder should have prior experience of constructing and maintaining e-rickshaw stands for a minimum fleet size of 10 e-rickshaws.

Bihar seems to have begun its journey to a sustainable future. The state, which falls among the least developed states when it comes to renewable capacity addition, has come up with various positive announcements of late.

In the first week of 2019, the Bihar Renewable Energy Development Agency (BREDA) issued a request for proposal (RfP) for the installation of 15 MW of grid connected rooftop solar PV systems. The project will be developed under RESCO model with net metering facility at various locations across the state. In February 2018, BREDA had invited bids for the development of 40 MW grid-connected solar photovoltaic rooftop projects at various locations across the state.

The state has also revised the draft regulations pertaining to Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) compliance and Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) framework implementation. According to the new provisions, the commission may review the minimum percentage of RPO compliance depending on the situation in the succeeding years. Earlier, after achieving 85 percent of the solar and non-solar RPO compliance, the shortfall could be met by the purchase of solar and non-solar and solar RPO respectively.

In August 2018, BERC had fixed the generic levelized tariff for power generated from solar PV for FY 2018-19 at ₹4.17 (~$0.059)/kWh without accelerated depreciation (AD). With AD, the tariff was set to be ₹3.98 (~$0.057)/kWh.

Last year, the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of the public-sector units of the Ministry of Power and the Government of India, entered two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited (NBPDCL) and South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited (SBPDCL) to deploy smart meters in 130 towns and adjacent rural areas covering approximately 1.8 million customers in the state. The deployment will be in a fast-track mode, with installation taking place within 1.5 years in a phased manner from the date of signing the agreement.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, the cumulative installed solar capacity in Bihar is 110 MW.