The Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL), has announced a tender to develop 20 MW of solar projects at Piparwar, located in Jharkhand.

The deadline for the submission of bids is January 15, 2020, while the bid opening date has been scheduled for January 17, 2020. The estimated value of the project is ₹803 million (~$11.2 million).

The earnest money deposit (EMD) required to participate in this tender is ₹5 million (~$69,872).

The scope of work includes the design, supply, installation, and commissioning of 20 MW of solar projects. The successful bidders will also be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the projects for a period of five years. According to the tender document, the work needs to be completed in 270 days.

The successful bidder will also be responsible for the construction of the central monitoring and control station (CMCS) and SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system for remote monitoring, including the control of inverters.

As far as the technical bid is concerned, the successful bidder should have designed, installed, and commissioned solar-based grid-connected power projects of a cumulative installed capacity of at least 16 MW, out of which at least one project should have been of 10 MW.

The average annual financial turnover during the last financial three years should be at least 30% of the estimated cost put to the tender.

The state of Jharkhand is currently in the bottom rungs of the ladder when it comes to the development of solar projects. The state is yet to see big solar tenders being awarded for development.

According to Mercom India’s Solar Project Tracker, the state currently has merely 19 MW of large-scale solar projects in operation.

However, earlier this year, the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture between the public-sector units of the Ministry of Power and the Government of India, had issued a tender to set up 100 MW of solar projects across Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Jharkhand.

Recently, the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) issued a tender for setting up 50 MW of grid-connected solar projects.