The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has invited expressions of interest (EoI) from consultants to evaluate Phase-II of the ‘Grid-Connected Rooftop Solar Program.’

The Phase-II of the ‘Grid-Connected Rooftop Solar Program’ was approved in March 2019. It has two components:

• Component A: Setting up of 4,000 MW of grid-connected rooftop solar projects in the residential sector with central financial assistance (CFA)
• Component B: Incentives to distribution companies (DISCOMs) based on their performance towards an initial 18,000 MW of grid-connected rooftop solar projects

In August 2019, MNRE issued operational guidelines to implement the program’s second phase.

The last date to submit the bids is January 10, 2022. The evaluation report should be submitted within 60 days from the award of the work.

The study aims to evaluate the implementation of Components A and B of the program by collecting information from state implementing agencies and other stakeholders, evaluating projects’ performance, identifying bottlenecks, assessing the components’ performance for different stakeholders, and providing recommendations to scale the program.

Unless approved by MNRE, any delay would invite penalties. The penalties may include reduction of consultancy fee, forfeiture of bank guarantee, termination of the contract, or any other penalty as decided by the ‘Consultancy Evaluation Committee’ constituted by MNRE.

The consultant should have experience of at least five years in conducting similar assignments. The bidder should have specific experience and in-house capability to manage the assignment.

Organizations that are already working with central and state agencies to implement the Phase-II of the ‘Rooftop Solar Program’ will not be eligible to participate in the bidding process.

The bidder’s average annual turnover should be at least ₹15 million (~$198,429)/year during the last three years.

Last month, MNRE reduced the benchmark costs, excluding the Goods and Services Tax (GST), for grid-connected rooftop solar projects for the financial year (FY) 2021-22. The revised benchmark costs for general category states vary from ₹35.89 (~$0.48)/W to ₹46.92 (~$0.62)/W (for capacities up to 500 kW).

In February this year, MNRE had issued amendments to the guidelines for the Phase II of the ‘Rooftop Solar Program.’ The implementing agency should assign a minimum of 10% of the total allocated quantity to the lowest bidder. Only the grid-connected rooftop solar systems installed in the area of the DISCOM would be considered for the calculation of incentives. 

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