NTPC Limited has invited bids to select developers for setting up 190 MW of grid-connected solar PV projects at Nokh Solar Park in Rajasthan. The project is being developed through Rajasthan Solar Park Development Company Limited.

The last date to submit the bids is February 10, 2021. The bids will also be opened on the same day. The pre-bid meeting will be held on January 27.

Interested bidders will have to submit a performance bank guarantee of ₹800,000 (~$10,900)/MW. The guarantee will have to be submitted by the successful bidder within 15 days from the date of the issue of the letter of award.

The project should be commissioned within ten months from the effective date of the power purchase agreement.

Any bidder from a country that shares a land border with India will be eligible to bid in this tender provided that the bidder is registered with the competent authority.

The bidder shall deploy commercially established and operational technologies to minimize the technology risk and achieve the project’s commissioning. The cells and modules used in the project should be sourced only from the models and manufacturers included in the ‘Approved List of Models and Manufacturers’ as published by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

The tender specified that the bidder’s net worth should be equal to or greater than ₹8 million (~$109,008)/MW of the quoted capacity on the last day of the previous financial year. The bidder’s minimum annual turnover should be at least ₹4.145 million (~$56,480)/MW of the quoted capacity during the last financial year.

The bidder should also have internal resource generation capacity in the form of profit before depreciation, interest, and taxes  for a minimum amount of ₹830,000 (~$11,309)/MW of the quoted capacity as on the last date of the previous financial year. Along with this, the bidder should have a sanction letter from the lending institutions committing a line of credit for a minimum amount of ₹1.036 million (~$14,116)/MW of the quoted capacity toward meeting the working capital requirement of the project.

The solar power project should be designed for inter-connection with the pooling substation at the solar park through a dedicated transmission line at a voltage level of 33 kV. The entire cost of transmission from the project up to the interconnection point, including the construction cost of the line and losses, will be borne by the developer and will not be reimbursed by NTPC or met by the distribution companies (DISCOMs). The CUF of the solar PV project selected should not be less than 21%.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, NTPC has so far floated tenders for 12.4 GW of utility-scale solar projects.

Last year, NTPC extended the bid submission deadline for its tender for a balance of system (BoS) package for the 735 (3×245) MW Nokh solar power project in Rajasthan. The tender was initially floated in March last year.

The Rajasthan Solar Park Development Company Limited in January 2020, had invited bids for the construction of 220 kV and 132 kV transmission lines at Nokh Solar Park on a turnkey basis.