The Ministry of Defense has invited expressions of interest to set up a combined ground-mounted and grid-connected floating solar project on a turnkey basis at the Cordite Factory in Aruvankadu, Tamil Nadu.

The last date for submitting expressions of interest is January 31, 2021. The Ministry did not prescribe an earnest money deposit for the tender.

The scope of work involves setting up the projects on the designated lakes and lands. About 4,200 square meters of land has been allocated for the ground-mounted projects, and about 11,700 square meters of the area across lakes would be made available for the floating solar projects.

The projects must come with a three-phase inverter. They must be connected to the grid along with any necessary civil work. Approvals from the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Company (TANGEDCO) must be obtained. Selected bidders are required to provide maintenance services for five years.

To be eligible to participate in the competitive bidding process, applicants must have prior experience designing, supplying, erecting, and commissioning similar projects in India or abroad. Alternatively, they must have collaboration agreements with companies that meet the above criteria.

The Cordite Factory at Aruvankadu is a multi-base propellant manufacturing unit of the Indian Ordnance Factory Board under the Ministry of Defence. It manufactures propellants using Nitrocellulose and Nitroglycerine with other ingredients.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, the Ministry of Defence has issued 41.45 MW of solar power projects for its ordnance factories as of December 2020.

In the defense sector, Military Engineer Services, one of India’s largest government defense infrastructure development agencies, calls for tenders to install solar projects. In December 2020, it invited bids for the engineering, procurement, and construction of a 1.5 MW grid-connected solar power project at Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The project was expected to cost ₹116.3 million (~$1.58 million). Before this, it called for bids to develop a 1 MW ground-mounted solar power project at Itarana, Alwar in Rajasthan. The project’s estimated cost was ₹68 million (~$911,920). Another bid issued by the agency was to develop a 1 MW solar power project and allied infrastructure at Jorhat in Assam. The estimated cost of that project was ₹60.6 million (~$795,610).

Image credit: ISIFLOATING