The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has issued a tender for the implementation of renewable packages for two smart township initiatives: one in NTPC Solapur (Maharashtra) and another in Khargone (Madhya Pradesh).

The brief scope of work includes the design, engineering, manufacturing, supply, packing and forwarding, transportation, unloading storage, installation, testing and commissioning of the following sub systems –

• Rooftop solar PV
• Ground mounted solar PV
• Solar tree and gazebo PV
• Solar carports

The successful bidder will provide comprehensive operation and maintenance (O&M) services to the project as well as a transmission system for a period of three years from the date of the successful completion of a trial run.

The last date for bid submission is January 17, 2019. The techno-commercial bid will open on January 18, 2019.

To be eligible, any interested bidder should have designed, supplied, installed, and commissioned grid connected solar PV projects of a cumulative capacity of 880 kW or above, out of which at least one project should be 100 kW or above.

The average annual turnover of the bidder should not be less than ₹71.8 million (~$1 million) during the last three financial years.

Recently, Mercom had reported that the 15,000 MW of solar capacity to be developed under NTPC’s state-specific bundling program has been reduced to just 3,000 MW.

In December 2018, Mercom reported that in the first mega solar-wind hybrid auction conducted in the country by the SECI, a tariff of ₹2.67 (~$0.03794)/kWh emerged as the lowest (L1) one.

According to the Mercom India Solar Project Tracker, NTPC has 870 MW of large-scale solar projects in operation across the country. Recently, NTPC won 160 MW of solar projects in UPNEDA’s 500 MW solar auction.