Engineering and consulting firm Gensol Engineering has been awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract by the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for an 8 MW ground-mounted solar power project in Panchet town of Dhanbad district in Jharkhand.

The company will also oversee the project’s operation and maintenance for five years.

Gensol won the project by quoting ₹476 million (~$5.76 million) in the e-reverse auction.

The company must now submit a performance security amount equivalent to 5%-10% of the contract value.

In addition to the performance security, retention money equivalent to 5% of each running bill will be withheld by DVC until final acceptance to ensure the completion of the project.

Gensol must commission the project within nine months of receiving the letter of award.

DVC had floated the tender for the project in February 2023, outlining the mandate of using monocrystalline solar photovoltaic technology with a fixed tilt configuration.

Gensol will be responsible for supplying solar modules, mounting structures, string combiner boxes, power conditioning units, inverters, and all the necessary equipment required to construct a 33 kV bay at the existing 132/33 kV Panchet Hydel Station switchyard.

It must also ensure that vendors provide a guarantee for the materials and equipment for 18 months from the date of delivery or 12 months from the date of commissioning, whichever is earlier.

It had been specified that the modules used in the project must be warranted with a linear degradation rate of power output except for the first year and guarantee a minimum of 80% of the initial rated power output at the end of 25 years from the date of successful commercial operation.

The project will be Gensol’s second ground-mount project and, overall, third for DVC. Gensol had commissioned a 10 MW ground-mount solar power project in Koderma, Jharkhand, and a 30 MW floating solar power project at multiple locations in Jharkhand and West Bengal.

In June 2023, Gujarat-based Param Renewable Energy, the operation and maintenance (O&M) arm of Gensol, was awarded a contract by the Indian Oil Corporation for the O&M of a 5 MW solar power project located at IOCL’s Rawra facility in the Jodhpur district of Rajasthan for three years.

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