Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has issued an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) tender for grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) projects with a total capacity of 5,995 kW.

The projects will be installed on buildings and land owned by KSEB across 63 locations under the feeder level solarization under component-C of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) program. About 5,000 kW of ground-mounted solar projects will be installed in 15 locations on land owned by KSEB and 995 kW of rooftop solar projects in 48 locations on KSEB buildings.

Under Component C of the KUSUM program, the government aims to solarize one million grid-connected agriculture pumps of individual capacity up to 7.5 HP by 2022.

The successful bidders should provide comprehensive operation and maintenance for the first five years.

The estimated cost of the project is ₹242.05 million(~$3.22 million).

The last date to submit bids is December 27, 2021. Bids will be opened on December 31.

Bidders have to furnish ₹500,000 (~$6,657) as an earnest money deposit along with a non-refundable processing fee of ₹17,700 (~$236). Successful bidders must submit 3% of the contract value as a security deposit before starting the work. Bidders must pay 3% of the contract value as a performance guarantee within 15 days from the issue of the Letter of Award.

The scope of work includes the design, engineering, supply, construction, erection, testing, commissioning of grid-connected solar PV projects.

The maximum time allowed for the commissioning of the total project capacity is eight months.

The EPC contractor must submit a performance ratio within seven days of commissioning the projects. The solar plant’s performance ratio must be above 75% for the first five years. The plant will be handed over to KSEB at the end of 5 years after commissioning.

Successful bidders must provide a 25-year output guarantee for the solar PV  modules used in the projects. The modules’ degradation must not be less than 90% at the end of 10 years and 80% at the end of 25 years.

In the last five years, bidders should have successfully installed solar projects of at least 2 MW. Of this, at least one project should be grid-connected (without a battery) of 1 MW or more. The project should be in operation in India for a minimum of six months as of the date of the notice inviting tender.

Bidders should have a minimum annual turnover of 75% of the project’s costs or more for at least three of the last five financial years.

KSEB has issued a request for qualification to set up 100 MW of grid-connected floating solar projects in Kerala.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, KSEBL has issued tenders for 1,597 MW of solar capacity to date.