The Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) has floated tenders for the operation and maintenance (O&M) of 3 MW of grid-connected solar projects each at Itnal village in Belagavi district and Yapaladinni village in Raichur district of Karnataka.

The operation and maintenance will be for two years and extendable by another year.

The last date for the submission of bids is May 04, 2020. Interested bidders will have to submit an amount of ₹124,250 (~$1,633.62) as the earnest money deposit (EMD) for the 3 MW grid-connected solar PV project at Yapaladinni village in Raichur district.  For the 3 MW grid-connected solar PV project at Itnal Village in Karnataka, interested bidders will have to submit an amount of ₹125,220 (~$1646.38) as the EMD. The EMD will be valid for 180 days from the date of the opening of the technical bid.

To take part in the bidding process, the interested bidder should have successfully carried out at least one similar work of O&M of solar PV projects as prime contractor of value not less than ₹3.2 million (~$42,073) in any one of the last five financial years. Regarding the financial criteria, the bidder in at least two financial years should have achieved an average annual turnover of ₹6.3 million (~$82,831.5).

In April 2019, KPCL had issued a repair tender for the 3 MW solar project in Itnal. This was a unique first of its kind tender. The tender was for the supply, erection, testing, and commissioning of 700 solar PV modules of 230-watt capacity.  The scope of work also includes the dismantling of defective 668 solar PV modules of capacity 230 watts at the project site. The 3 MW project was developed at the cost of ₹590 million (~$8.5 million) on 17 acres of government land acquired. KPCL financed the project commissioned in December 2009 from its internal resources under Arunodaya Scheme. Merely within a decade of commissioning, the project needed replacement of solar modules. The project is receiving a feed-in tariff of ₹14.5 ($0.21)/kWh.

KPCL is a power generating company owned by the government of Karnataka. It has six solar operational projects in Karnataka, totaling 34 MW.

A few months ago, Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd. (BHEL) had floated operation and maintenance tender for work on Karnataka Power Corporation’s (KPCL) 10 MW solar power project located at Haveri in Karnataka.

According to Mercom India Solar Project Tracker, Karnataka is the top solar state in India, with approximately 7.2 GW of large-scale solar projects in operation and approximately 826.4 MW of projects under the development pipeline.