Hild Energy has announced that it has been awarded an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract from the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) for the development of 40 MW of solar projects in Maharashtra.

The projects are part of a 100 MW tender that was issued by the EESL in May 2019. EESL had tendered solar projects of 40 MW capacity in Maharashtra, 40 MW in Andhra Pradesh, and 20 MW in Jharkhand.

These projects were to be developed at substations in the respective regions. The size of each solar project under this tender could vary from 500 kW to 2 MW.

Hild Energy was awarded the project in Maharashtra at the cost of ₹1.94 billion ($27 million), the other bidders who participated in the tender were, Central Electronics Limited (CEL), Tata Power Solar, and Mundra Solar (Adani).

A source at one of the companies which participated in the tender disclosed to Mercom that Tata Power Solar was also awarded a 40 MW project in Andhra Pradesh at the cost of around ₹1.94 billion ($27 million). The same bidders participated in the Andhra Pradesh projects, as well.

The developers will also be responsible for the comprehensive operation and maintenance of the projects for 25 years.

Mercom had reported in May 2019 that this was the third tender that had been released by EESL in response to an advisory issued by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in July 2017 that addressed the utilization of empty land near pooling substations to allow for better usage of the transmission infrastructure.

After this announcement in 2017, EESL had tendered and auctioned 200 MW of solar PV to be developed near pooling substations in the state.

Then in December 2018, EESL floated a tender for 160 MW of solar PV projects to be developed near pooling substations across the state of Maharashtra.