Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) has invited bids for the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of a 2.25 MW grid-connected solar power project at its Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) bottling plant in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.

The successful bidder must make necessary arrangements for power drawal at four IOCL locations across Madhya Pradesh through open access and wheeling agreements, including all regulatory permissions and payments of all statutory charges.

They must also take care of the project’s operation and maintenance (O&M) for five years.

The project’s estimated cost is ₹126.97 million (~$1.55 million).

The last date to submit the bids is July 25, 2023. Bids will be opened on July 27.

The successful bidder must submit 10% of the work order value as a security deposit.

The project must be commissioned within nine months of the site’s handing over.

To be eligible, bidders should have executed one similar work of value not less than ₹56.67 million (~$690,286), which is  50% of the estimated project cost, or two work orders, each of value not less than ₹45.34 million (~$552,277), which is 40% of the estimated project cost, or three work orders, each of value not less than ₹34.01 million (~$414,269), which is 30% of the estimated project cost during the last five years.

They should have executed an EPC work for a capacity greater than or equal to 2.25 MW of grid-connected solar power project with net metering, gross metering, net billing, or open access arrangement in any industry in a single purchase order. The project should have been operational for at least one year before the bid submission date.

Also, the annual turnover of bidders during any of the last three financial years should be 60% of the estimated value of the work under consideration.

The solar modules should have a product warranty of a minimum of ten years and a performance warranty of 25 years from the project’s commissioning date.

The solar modules offered should not degrade more than 2.5% for the first year and more than 10% and 20% of the rated power for the first ten years and the entire project life span of 25 years, respectively.

IOCL has mandated that the solar modules used for the project should be from the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) issued by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

In March this year, IOCL invited bids for O&M of an existing 8 MW solar power project at the LPG bottling plant at Sanand in Ahmedabad for five years.

Earlier, IOCL had invited bids from consultants for project management consultancy services to set up a 2.25 MW grid-connected ground-mounted solar power project at its LPG bottling plant in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, IOC has floated tenders for 114 MW of solar power projects.