South Eastern Railway has invited bids for the empanelment of agencies for setting up 13.54 MW of grid-connected rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in railway zones of Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal through public-private partnerships.

The projects will be developed on Design, Build, Finance, Operate, and Transfer basis.

The select bidder will be required to operate and maintain the rooftop solar projects for 25 years.

The last date to submit the bids is June 19, 2023, and the bids will be opened on the same day.

The projects are located at various locations of Odisha, Jharkhand & West Bengal State regions located under Adra, Kharagpur (including Kharagpur Workshop), Chakradharpur, and Ranchi Divisions of South Eastern Railway.

The selected bidders will be responsible for developing two solar projects of capacities ranging from more than 10 kW and up to 100 kW; and over 100 kW up to 500 kW.

The selected agencies must complete the installation of the solar projects within 240 days from the date of receiving the letter of award.

The power generated from the above projects will be used by Zonal Railways through the net metering system for their respective locations under a long-term fixed rate.

The selected bidders must furnish a bid process management fee of ₹75,000 (~$907.73)/ MW of the awarded capacity in the PPA within 30 days of signing the pact.

The total estimated cost of the projects is ₹586.13 million (~$7.09 million).

The selected bidders must submit a Performance Bank Guarantee of ₹1.6 million (~$19,365)/MW of the quoted capacity within 30 days of signing the power purchase agreement.

The average annual turnover of the interested bidders must be ₹15 million (~$181,540) during the last three financial years.

They must have a positive net worth in the last three financial years.

The bidders must have experience in successfully installing grid-connected solar rooftop systems of minimum aggregate capacity of 200 kW as a developer or an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor.

Alternatively, they must have experience installing and commissioning any grid-connected systems of minimum 1 MW aggregate capacity as a developer or EPC contractor for residential, social, industrial, commercial, government, or any other sector.

In March this year, South Eastern Railway invited bids for state-wise empanelment of agencies to implement rooftop solar projects of 2.3447 MW in Odisha and 1.4738 MW in Jharkhand.

Last December, Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Lok Sabha that the Indian Railways aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030 and is committed to 100% electrification of the broad gauge railway network. The minister said that until October 2022, the Railways had commissioned around 142 MW of solar capacity on rooftops and vacant land.