The recent tender floated by Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (MPUVNL) for the development of 35 MW of grid-connected rooftop solar under RESCO model witnessed the participation of 31 developers.

Some of the major companies that participated in the tender process were Fourth Partner, Renew Solar, Hero, Sterling & Wilson Ltd, Mundra Solar, Amplus Energy Solutions, Azure Power, Clean Max Enviro, and Giriraj Renewables.

Financial bid will open on August 28, 2018.

Speaking to Mercom, Manu Srivastava, the principal secretary at New & Renewable Energy Department of Madhya Pradesh said, “We are happy with the level of participation. The developers are happy with the whole process and the clarification documents.”

Earlier, Mercom had reported that amid the uncertainty regarding the imposition of safeguard duty, the MPUVNL issued a clarification for its latest solar rooftop RESCO tender proactively.

In its clarification, MPUVL had considered using a 100kW system. According to MPUVNL, “This adjustment in tariff because of change in capital cost will be given until three months prior to the scheduled commissioning date of the project as provided in the PPA.”

Per the clauses of the request for proposal (RfP) and the power purchase agreement (PPA), in case safeguard duty is levied on imported cells after the bid submission day, which is August 23, 2018, the tariff would be adjusted with a specified formula. MPUVNL had issued a clarification that 25 percent duty on cells would lead to a tariff adjustment (increase) by 5.2 percent.

In August 2017, MPUVNL had tendered 30 MW of grid-connected rooftop solar to be installed across Madhya Pradesh on aggregated basis. The capacity has now been increased to 35 MW and MPUVNL, through a corrigendum, has amended the clause relating to tax and duties in the tender document.

Recently, the Indian government levied a safeguard duty of 25 percent on solar imports from China and Malaysia. The Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) levied the duty based on the final recommendations proposed by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR).

Nitin is a staff reporter at Mercomindia.com and writes on renewable energy and related sectors. Prior to Mercom, Nitin has worked for CNN IBN, India News, Agricultural Spectrum and Bureaucracy Today. He received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Communication from Manipal Institute of Communication at Manipal University and Master’s degree in International Relations from Jindal School of International Affairs. More articles from Nitin Kabeer