NTPC has issued a request for qualification (RfQ) to select developers to set up 1,150 MW grid-connected solar power projects across 175 locations and 150 MW/150 MWh battery energy storage systems (BESS) at three locations in Cuba.

The scope of work includes design, financing, construction, installation, commissioning, operation and transfer, and dismantling of the project.

The last day to submit the bids is September 9, 2022.

Submission of bid security will be required at the request for the proposal stage.

The 1,150 MW project will be broken up into three buckets of around 300 MW each and will be tendered together. A bidder may participate in one or two or all three blocks with a minimum capacity of 50 MW. The bidder who offers the least tariff for a project of 50 MW in a block will be selected as L1.

The other bidders will be rated as L2 and L3 according to their offered tariff. Bucket filling within each block is also envisaged if the capacity is available. For this, the other bidders will be awarded the capacities they would be bidding for —with a minimum capacity of 50 MW in a block— at the tariff they had offered for that particular bucket. A similar exercise will be carried out in other buckets, too, with the total capacity awarded to each bidder capped by their total net worth as declared at the time of RfQ on a pro-rata basis.

Bidders must have designed, constructed, and operated one or more grid-connected solar power projects in Latin and South America with a minimum cumulative capacity of 15 MW. Each such project should have a minimum capacity of 5 MW. They can also qualify if they have designed, constructed, and operated one or more power projects, with any power generation technology, connected to the grid in Latin and South America with a minimum cumulative capacity of 40 MW.

Bidders can also qualify if they have designed, constructed, and operated at least three grid-connected solar power projects having a minimum cumulative capacity of 50 MW. Each such project should have a minimum capacity of 15 MW. They can also qualify if they designed, constructed, and operated one or more power projects connected to the grid, regardless of the technology, anywhere in the world, with a minimum cumulative capacity of 700 MW.

Bidders must have a net worth of at least $40 million or equivalent and a net worth to total assets ratio of at least 15%. If the bidder is a consortium having more than one reference sponsor, each being a separate legal entity, the consortium leader should have a net worth of at least $20 million or equivalent. The reference sponsors should collectively have a net worth of at least $40 million or equivalent, and each reference sponsor should have a ratio of net worth to total assets of at least 15%.

NTPC was appointed as the project management consultant for the 900 MW of solar projects to be developed at 175 locations across 15 provinces in Cuba under Program-6 of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

In December 2020, NTPC invited expressions of interest for the solarization of 47 least developed countries and small island developing states member countries of the ISA.