The National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) has invited bids for a 160 MW solar project in Jetsar, Rajasthan.

The scope of work includes the design, engineering, manufacturing, supply, packing and forwarding, transportation, unloading, storage, installation, and commissioning of the project on a turnkey basis.

The tender allows for the procurement of solar modules that are not manufactured in India. The prospective bidders should be enlisted with the NTPC as qualified EPC developers.

The scope of work also includes the operation and maintenance of the solar project including switchyard, along with electrical equipment, consumables and spare parts for three years from the date of successful completion of its trial run. Further, the developer would also be responsible for the development of a grid substation.

Bidders are expected to quote their annual generation and price per million units for the solar project. This will be followed by a reverse auction.

The bidder is required to submit bid security calculated at the rate of ₹100 million ($1.43 million). The last date and time for the receipt of bids, including both techno-commercial bid and price bid will be June 26, 2019.

Recently, Mercom reported on NTPC being on the lookout for engineering procurement construction contractors to set up 1 GW of grid-connected solar projects under Phase-II Tranche-I of the Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) program.

It has also extended the bid submission deadline for a 1.2 GW tender for the development of interstate transmission system (ISTS)-connected solar projects in western India, which it had tendered November 2018 with an initial bid submission deadline of December 19, 2018. Later, the deadline was extended to January 3, 2019. The new bid submission deadline now is July 1, 2019.

Rajasthan is an attractive state for solar project development. For instance, a 750 MW solar tender floated by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) was recently oversubscribed by 350 MW. The tender was floated in March 2019.