The Power and Electricity Department, an undertaking of the Government of Mizoram, has issued a Request for Selection (RfS) for setting up 20 MW of solar power projects at Vankal Solar Park, Khawzawl in Champhai district of the state.

The tender has been issued under the global competitive bidding, and the last date for the submission of bids is January 23, 2020.

Interested bidders must pay a sum of ₹400,000 (~$5,617) as the earnest money deposit (EMD) while the bid processing fee is ₹25,000 (~$351).

The scope of work includes setting up the solar PV project, including the transmission network up to the delivery point. The selection of the project would be technology agnostic within PV technology and crystalline silicon or thin-film or CPV solar panels with or without trackers can be used in the projects.

As per the tender document, there are four plots of 5 MW each, and the prospective bidders can submit a single bid for a minimum of one plot or may participate in all four plots.

The successful solar power developer needs to declare the annual capacity utilization factor (CUF) of the project at the time of submission of the response to RfS, which will be allowed to be modified at the time of signing of the power purchase agreement (PPA).

The selected bidder will set up the solar PV project on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis per the provisions of the RfS and PPA.

The maximum tariff payable to the project developer has been set at ₹4.50 (~$0.06)/kWh for 25 years. Bidders need to submit their bids by offering a single tariff for the project.

According to the power and electricity department of Mizoram, the financial closure for the project has to be achieved within seven months from the effective date of the power purchase agreement.

As per the technical eligibility criteria, the tender promotes only commercially established and operational technologies to minimize the technology risk and to achieve timely commissioning of the projects. The successful bidder must confirm the selection of technology at the time of financial closure.

As far as the financial eligibility criteria are concerned, the net worth of the should be equal to or greater than ₹10.7 million (~$150,277), as on the last date of the previous financial year (FY) 2018-19.

Zoram Energy Development Agency (ZEDA) has been appointed as the nodal agency to facilitate and implement the state’s solar policy. In 2017, the government of Mizoram issued the Mizoram Solar Power Policy 2017, aiming at ensuring reliable power supply and a sustainable energy mix for the state.

Recently, Mercom had reported that the Central Energy Authority (CEA)’s report projected that the north-eastern states of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, and Sikkim, are also likely to have both peak and energy surplus on an annual basis.

Previously, it was reported that the Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd. (SECI) is likely to issue a tender for 1,000 MW of solar PV capacity to be developed in the states of Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland, and Assam.

Image credit: Sc16m017 [CC BY-SA 4.0]