NLC India has invited bids to arrange 1,850 acres of land for the development of interstate transmission system (ISTS)-connected solar power projects and associated equipment, along with the extra-high-voltage (EHV) transmission line and land fencing.

Bids must be submitted by December 23, 2025, and will be opened on the same day.

Bidders must furnish ₹20,000 (~$1,388) towards the tender document cost and ₹11.05 million (~$123,855) as a bid guarantee.

The scope of work involves the arrangement of government or private land on a freehold or leasehold basis in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.

Successful bidders must also design, engineer, supply, erect, test, and commission the power evacuation package and arrangement of connectivity for developing solar projects.

They must obtain the required permit, no-objection certificate, approval, and land clearance. They must also undertake operation and maintenance of the pooling substation and associated equipment, EHV transmission lines  for three years from the commissioning date.

The time schedule for the scope of work is 21 months from the date of letters of award.

Multiple land parcels can be accepted, subject to a minimum single parcel having 400 acres or more. All offered land parcels must be within 50 km of a Central Transmission Utility of India (CTUIL) station.

The chosen land must have a minimum average solar irradiation level of 1850 kWh/m².

Land requirement is taken as 4.5 acre/MW plus 10% extra, based on an around 375 MW solar project.

Bidders must arrange ISTS connectivity for the subject project under land bank guarantee route of the GNA regulation. Under this route, the bidder must provide a bank guarantee of ₹1 million (~$11,206)/MW instead of showing ownership/lease/land-use rights for at least 50% of the land needed for the capacity seeking connectivity, as per the relevant GNA clauses.

Based on the bidder’s proposed substation, NLC India Renewables (NIRL) will submit the connectivity application. Bidders must provide the required documents to enable NIRL to apply to the CTU.

NIRL will pay the initial connectivity charges, including the land bank guarantee and any other required bank guarantees, for the first-time application. However, NIRL will not be responsible if CTU does not grant connectivity due to, for example, a lack of available capacity at the substation proposed by the bidder.

If any bank guarantees are encashed, or connectivity is cancelled or revoked due to the bidder failing to arrange land as per CTU timelines or for any other bidder-related reasons, the bidder must reimburse or compensate NIRL for the resulting financial impact.

Bidders must meet the technical pre-qualifying requirements through any one of three routes:

Route 1: Bidders should have arranged land for grid-connected solar or wind projects or parks with a total capacity of at least 100 MW. At least one of these projects or parks must be 50 MW or larger. The projects may already be commissioned or still under execution.

Route 2: Bidders who have completed in the last ten years one industrial project worth ₹450 million (~$5.04 million) or more as a developer or EPC contractor in sectors such as power, steel, oil and gas, petrochemical, fertilizer, cement, coal mining, coal handling, or any other process industry can also submit bids. This project must have been successfully operating for at least one year before the techno-commercial bid opening, or at least six months if it is a solar or wind project.

In addition, bidders must have completed at least one electrical substation of 33 kV or above with equipment like circuit breakers and a power transformer. This substation must also be successfully operating for at least one year before bid opening, or six months if it is part of a solar or wind project.

The industrial project and the substation can be part of the same project or separate projects.

Route 3: Bidders may qualify by collaborating with another firm, forming a consortium of up to two firms, forming a joint venture company, or bidding as a group holding or subsidiary company of a firm that meets route one or route two.

In all such cases, a leader must be named, and proper agreements and joint undertakings must be submitted. The partner or promoter giving qualification must hold at least 26% equity, and all partners or promoters will be jointly responsible for the performance of the contract.

Bidders must have a positive net worth as per the latest audited financial statements.

The average annual turnover of the bidders should not be less than ₹450 million (~$5.04 million) for the last three consecutive financial years.

Earlier this year, NLC India granted an in-principle approval to invest up to ₹16.3 billion (~$190 million) in one or more tranches to NIRL to support renewable energy project development via capital expenditure funding.

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