The Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust in Maharashtra’s Shirdi has issued a tender for setting up 10 MW of grid-connected solar power project in any region of the state with a good solar potential.

The bidder will need to identify a suitable piece of land of minimum 50 acres with a high solar radiation (5-6 kWh/m2/day) for the development of the solar power project on turnkey basis.

The brief scope of work includes the supply, design, engineering, manufacturing, installation, and commissioning of the project. A bidder will also have to provide operations and maintenance (O&M) for a period of 10 years.

The last date for bid submission is January 29, 2019. The date for technical bid will be informed later by the trust.

To be eligible to bid for the project, a bidder should have executed at least 10 MW of ground-mounted solar PV projects in India in the last five years.

The average annual turnover of the bidder should not be less than ₹600 million (~$ 8.59 million) in the last three financial years.

Gradually, even religious institutions are turning to solar power to light up their premises.

In 2018, gurdwaras in New Delhi planned to utilize solar power to meet their day-to-day requirements. The renewal energy wing of Delhi’s Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) had initiated a 1 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) project in early 2018.

Recently, Mercom reported that Tirupati Smart City Corporation Limited (TSCCL) also invited Request for Proposal (RfP) for 6 MW of grid-connected solar projects.

Maharashtra has taken huge strides when it comes to expansion of solar in the state.

For instance, recently, in December 2018, the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture between the public-sector units of the Ministry of Power and the government of India, floated a tender for 160 MW of solar projects to be developed near pooling substations across the state.

Then in the first week of 2019, the Central Electronics Limited (CEL), a public-sector enterprise, has tendered 11 MW of grid-connected solar projects to be developed at various locations across Maharashtra. The minimum project size will be 400 kW to 500 kW at a single location. The CEL will supply 300-Watt solar PV modules for the projects.

According to the Mercom India Solar Project Tracker, Maharashtra has installed 1.36 GW of large scale solar power projects and ~1.9 GW of solar projects are under development pipeline.