The National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) has issued tender inviting government entities to procure power from 1 GW of solar projects.

The projects have been tendered under the DCR category of the government’s CPSU program, phase – II.

The last date for submission of bids has been kept for June 27, 2019, with the pre-bid meeting scheduled for June 21, 2019.

The bidders who are going to be the end users should be CPSUs, state PSUs, government entities either directly controlled by the central or state government or under the administrative control of the state or the central government or a company in which the government has more than 50% shareholding.

To participate, the bidders must furnish an earnest money deposit, an integrity pact, a passphrase, and a board resolution.

According to an NTPC official, “This is a tender for government entities to procure 1 GW of solar power. NTPC will later call for an EPC tender to develop the solar projects.”

In March 2019, The President of India accorded his approval to implement phase-II of the Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) program to set up 12,000 MW of grid-connected solar power projects for self-use or use by government entities. The program was proposed by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE). Under this, the government producers will get four years: 2019-2020 to 2022-23, to set up 12,000 MW of solar power projects.

Shortly after, the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) issued a Request for Selection for the setting up of 2,000 MW of grid-connected solar PV power projects (Tranche-I) under the second phase of the CPSU program in which the projects will be developed on Build-Own-Operate basis.

Soumik is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Prior to joining Mercom, Soumik was a correspondent for UNI, New Delhi covering the Northeast region for seven years. He has also worked as an Asia Correspondent for Washington DC-based Hundred Reporters. He has contributed as a freelancer to several national and international digital publications with a focus on data-based investigative stories on environmental corruption, hydro power projects, energy transition and the circular economy. Soumik is an Economics graduate from Scottish Church College, Calcutta University.