Central Electronics Limited (CEL), a public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Science and Technology, has floated a tender to procure 500,000 multicrystalline solar cells with a wattage capacity of 4.68 W and higher.

The cells must be 156.75 x 156.75 mm ± 0.25mm or 157x 157 mm or ± 0.25 in dimension. They must be five bus bars in length and 200 ± 20 microns in thickness.

The last date to submit the bids is June 2, 2021, while the bids will be opened on the same day.

The bidders are not required to pay any earnest money deposit for this tender. The bids submitted will be valid for 45 days from the date of opening them.

The cells must be free of cracks, holes, cuts, edge chipping, streaks, patches, spots, discontinuity of metal printing lines, or color mismatches.

The cells should have a homogeneous silicon nitride coating without any color variations. The packing of the cells should be in lots of hundreds or as per the standard size followed by the vendor.

Only original manufacturers or their authorized representatives will be eligible to participate in the bidding process.

The supplier should confirm that the modules manufactured using the supplier’s cells conform to IEC 61215/IS 14286, IEC 61730, and IEC 62804 standards.

The bidding documents further mention that bidders from micro and small enterprises will have to attach supporting documents to avail benefits under relevant sections.

Unapproved vendors are expected to supply a sample lot of at least 200 cells. These will be checked against CEL’s testing protocols. CEL will have free access to the supplier’s works during testing and final inspection.

Vendors will be added to the approved list only after clearing the scanning process. The bidding document specifies that if the defective cells are more than 3% of the whole quantity, the whole lot will be rejected.

Multicrystalline solar cells are widely used in solar modules in India. Producing these cells involves melting many fragments of silicon together and forming a wafer.

Recently, CEL floated tenders for 1.75 million multicrystalline solar cells. The tenders were for procuring 250,000 multicrystalline solar cells of wattage capacity of a minimum of 4.52 W and 1.5 million multicrystalline solar cells of a minimum of 4.68 W.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, CEL has floated tenders for about 5.93 million multicrystalline cells as of April 2021.