The Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) has invited bids to install and commission a 1 MW grid-connected solar project for its hydrogen production and dispensing station for refueling hydrogen in Faridabad.

The scope of work involves design, manufacture, supply, installation, commissioning, and complete warranty of the solar system with interactive operation with the proposed hydrogen production system and dispensing station for refueling hydrogen at the Indian Oil Centre for Alternative & Renewable Energy (i-CARE) in Faridabad.

The last date to submit the bids is November 11, 2021, and bids will be opened on the same day.

Interested bidders will not have to pay any earnest money deposit to participate in the tender.

Only Class-I and Class-II local suppliers are eligible to bid in this tender. The local content requirement to categorize a bidder as a ‘Class-I local supplier’ is a minimum of 50%. For ‘Class II suppliers,’ the minimum local content requirement is 20%.

The order for the hydrogen production and dispensing system has been placed and is expected to be installed and commissioned by mid of 2022. Therefore, the installer of the solar system is expected to complete the solar project by that time.

IOCL has stated that preference will be given to micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSE) suppliers. If the MSE vendor participating in the tender quotes within the price band of lowest (L1) + 15%, he will be allowed to supply 100% of the requirement subject to the acceptance of the L1 price.

To participate in the bidding process, the bidder should have successfully executed three similar orders of value not less than ₹25.8 million (~$344,516) or two orders of value not less than ₹34.4 million (~$459,355), or one order of value not less than ₹43 million (~$574,193).

The bidder’s average annual turnover should not be less than ₹51.6 million (~$689,032) in any of the last three financial years.

The solar modules to be used for the project must be warranted with a linear degradation rate of power output except for the first year and should guarantee 85% of the initial rated power output at the end of 25 years.

Last month, IOCL invited bids to empanel vendors to develop solar projects at its locations and retail outlets across India.

Earlier, IOCL had invited bids from engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors to set up a 2 MW ground-mounted on-grid solar project at its LPG Bottling Plant at Tikri Kalan, Delhi.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, IOCL has so far floated tenders for 29 MW of solar projects.