The National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) has extended the bid submission deadline for its tender for 1,000 MW of solar projects floated under the Centre Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) program’s Phase II, Tranche-1.

The new date for the submission of the bids is July 25, 2019.

Earlier, the bid submission deadline was July 15, 2019. Towards the beginning of June 2019, NTPC had issued a tender inviting government entities to procure power from 1 GW of solar projects.

Under this bid, the contractors will have to source all the materials for the project construction domestically since this tender has been floated under the domestic content requirement (DCR) category. A single bidder must bid for a minimum of 50 MW and can bid for a maximum of 300 MW. The grid-connected solar PV projects will be developed on a turnkey basis. The scope of work includes the design, engineering, manufacturing, supply, packing, and forwarding, transportation, unloading, storage, installation, and commissioning of the solar PV projects.

Many tenders floated by the NTPC have received bid deadline extensions in the recent past. For instance, recently the NTPC extended the bid submission deadline for another tender for 1.2 GW interstate transmission system (ISTS)-connected  solar projects in western India. The NTPC had tendered the projects in November 2018 with an initial bid submission deadline set on December 19, 2018. Later, the deadline was extended to January 3, 2019.

The CPSU program was proposed by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy under which, the government producers will get four years: 2019-2020 to 2022-23, to set up 12,000 MW of solar power projects across the country. Under the program, the usage charges should not exceed ₹3.50 (~$0.050)/kWh and will be exclusive of any other third-party charge such as wheeling, transmission charges, and losses.

The President of India in March 2018 accorded his approval to implement phase-II of the CPSU program to set up 12,000 MW of grid-connected solar power projects for self-use or use by government entities.

Image Credit: Edf-renouvelables

Anjana is a news editor at Mercom India. Before joining Mercom, she held roles of senior editor, district correspondent, and sub-editor for The Times of India, Biospectrum and The Sunday Guardian. Before that, she worked at the Deccan Herald and the Asianlite as chief sub-editor and news editor. She has also contributed to The Quint, Hindustan Times, The New Indian Express, Reader’s Digest (UK edition), IndiaSe (Singapore-based magazine) and Asiaville. Anjana holds a Master’s degree in Geography from North Bengal University, and a diploma in mass communication and journalism from Guru Ghasidas University, Bhopal.