Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science & Technology Promotion Society (CREST) has invited bids to set up 50 MW grid-connected rooftop solar power projects on various residential houses in the Union Territory under the renewable energy service company (RESCO) model.

The projects must be installed on a build-operate-transfer basis and within five months of receiving the work order.

The last date to submit the bids is March 13, 2024. Bids will be opened the following day.

The bidders must submit an earnest money deposit of ₹2.5 million (~$30,165). Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) are exempted from EMD; however, they have to sign a bid security declaration accepting a blacklisting of two years if they withdraw their bids during the validity period.

The project capacities can vary from 5 kWp to 10 kWp for each service connection.

The selected bidders must pay a performance guarantee of ₹1,000 (~$12.07) per kWp of the allotted capacity.

The bidder’s average annual turnover must be at least ₹45 million (~$542,994) in the last three financial years ending March 31, 2023.

The bidders must have installed and commissioned a ground-mounted, rooftop, or floating solar project with a cumulative capacity of 500 kWp or above in India through any government or state agencies.

Solar cell or module manufacturers with an annual manufacturing capacity of 25 MWp can also participate in this tender.

The bidders should have a service center in or around Chandigarh within a radius of 50 km with qualified staff or should commit to opening a service center within one month of receiving the work order.

The projects will be allocated at the L1 rates only, and all shortlisted bidders will have to match the L-1 bid.

The rooftop solar projects installed under the tender will be eligible for central financial assistance (CFA) under the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, released to the RESCO company. The CFA will be released only to vendors using solar modules listed in the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers and are manufactured using domestically produced solar cells.

The selected vendors can use imported solar modules for the projects but will not be eligible for the CFA.

The rooftop solar consumers will be charged an Average Pooled Cost of Power Purchase of ₹3.29 (~$0.0397)/kWh for the build-own-transfer period agreed upon by the vendors. Out of this ₹0.07 (~$0.0008)/kWh will be kept by Discom/Chandigarh Electricity Department as facilitation charges, and the balance amount of ₹3.22 (~$0.0389)/kWh will be transferred to the RESCO Company on a monthly/bi-monthly basis.

Recently, Enerture Technologies, Independent Business Machines, Success Impex, and Sunlive Solar won CREST’s tender to build and operate grid-connected rooftop solar projects on government-owned residential buildings.

The Union Cabinet approved the Pradhan Mantri-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, aimed at installing rooftop solar systems on 10 million households, with a total outlay of ₹750.21 billion (~$9.05 billion) until the financial year 2025-26.

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