Central Electronics Limited (CEL), a public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Science and Technology, has invited bids for the supply of 1.5 million multicrystalline solar cells of 4.68 W output or higher.

As per the tender documents, the solar cell should be five busbars in length and 156.75 x 156.75 mm +/-0.25 mm or 157 x 157 mm +/-0.25 mm in dimension. The cells must be 200 ± 20 microns in thickness with a wattage of ≥4.68 W.

The last date to submit the bids is August 16, 2022. Bids will be opened on the same day.

Bidders are not required to submit any earnest money deposit for the tender.

The solar cells must be free from chipping, micro-cracks, pinholes, discontinuity of metal printing lines, and color variation between the cells. The cells should also have a homogeneous silicon nitride coating without color variations.

The packing of solar cells should be in lots of 100 cells or per the vendors’ standard size.

Only original manufacturers or their authorized representatives with a valid authorization from the original equipment manufacturers will be eligible to participate in the bidding process.

Bidders must confirm that the modules manufactured using the supplier’s cells comply with IEC 61215/IS 14286, IEC 61730, and IEC 62804 standards.

They should have a minimum of 30 MW/annum of in-house multicrystalline solar cell manufacturing capacity.

CEL has stated that if the defective cells are less than 3% of the total supplied quantity, all such cells will be replaced free of cost. The whole lot will be rejected if the defective cells are more than 3%. If the lot is accepted during sample check but defective during production, the cells would have to be replaced by the supplier.

Vendors should supply a sample lot of 200 cells for test and evaluation.

IA reduction in the price at 0.5% of the total order value per week, subject to a maximum of 5% of the total order value, will apply if the delivery is delayed.

If there is a split tender, micro and small enterprises (MSEs) quoting price within a price band of L1 (lowest)+15% would be allowed to supply a portion up to 20% of the requirement by bringing down their price to L1 price where L1 is non-MSE price.

If the price quoted by an MSE is within L1+15% and such MSE is L4 or higher (provided L1, L2, and L3 are not MSEs), then the splitting of quantities will be done as MSE bidder-20% and other bidders-80% of the tendered quantity.

Any bidder from a country that shares a land border with India will also be eligible to bid.

Recently, CEL invited bids for the supply of 1.5 million multicrystalline solar cells of 4.63 W output or higher.

Earlier, CEL had announced a tender to supply 1.5 million Multicrystalline solar cells.

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