ONGC Mangalore Petrochemicals (OMPL), a greenfield petrochemicals project promoted by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)and its subsidiary, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), has invited bids for a grid-interactive floating solar photovoltaic (PV) project of 2 MW capacity to be installed in its premises.

The bid submission deadline is September 5, 2019, and the techno-commercial bids will be opened on the same day. An earnest money deposit (EMD) of ₹1.74 million (~$24,536) must be deposited by the bidders.

The scope of work includes the basic design, detailed engineering, supply, and installation of the floating solar PV system on the water reservoir on a lump-sum turnkey basis inside the OMPL complex.
The modules used in the installation must be made in India.

The mechanical completion of the complete system must be done within 20 weeks from the date of the letter of award (LoA). The overall scope of work should be completed within 22 weeks from the date of issue of the LoA.

The successful bidder must provide a contract performance bank guarantee or security deposit of 10% of the lumpsum value within 15 days of the receipt of the LoA for the satisfactory execution of the order.

The technical criteria require the bidder to have executed similar floating solar power projects of a minimum of 1 MW (DC) capacity or two units of a minimum of 600 kW (DC) capacity in a grid-connected system over the last seven years or the bidder must be a manufacturer of solar modules of a minimum capacity of 100 MW per year.

Floating solar projects have been gaining traction in the country in the face of limited and complicated land availability.

Recently, the National Thermal Power Corporation had retendered and invited fresh bids for a 20 MW floating solar project. The project was to be established at the reservoir of NTPC Auraiya Gas Power Project at Dibiyabpur in Uttar Pradesh.

In the recent past, the ONGC had tendered another tender for 5 MW of grid-connected solar project to be developed at its Tatipaka site, located in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Image Credit: ABB