The Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Limited (REIL), a joint venture between the government of India and the state of Rajasthan, has invited bids for the supply of 300,000 solar cells with wattages of 4.5W, 4.6W, and 4.67W under the domestic content requirement (DCR) category.

The scope of work under the DCR category includes the supply of 100,000 multicrystalline solar cells, each of 4.5W, 4.6W, 4.67W.

In another tender, REIL has invited bids to supply 300,000 solar cells with wattages of 4.5W, 4.6W, and 4.67W. This is not under the DCR category, but local manufacturers will be given preference for promoting domestic products to meet the required quality standards and specifications. Any bidder from a country that shares a land border with India will be eligible to participate in the competitive bidding process for this tender.

The last date for submitting bids for both the tenders is September 24, 2020, and the opening of bids will take place on September 25, 2020.

Interested bidders will have to submit and amount of ₹375,000 (~$5,094) as the earnest money deposit (EMD). Micro and small enterprise (MSE) vendors are exempted from paying the EMD amount.

As per the tender documents, the 4.5W solar cells should be 4-5 busbars in length and should be 156 x 156 mm +- 1 mm or 156.75 x 156.75 +- 1 mm in dimension. The 4.6W and 4.67W solar cells must be five busbars in length and 200 μm in thickness with a permitted deviation of nearly 20 μm.

The vendors who have not supplied these cells earlier should submit a sample of 140 solar cells of each watt category free of cost to REIL for evaluation and acceptance before the due date of the tender.

Particular preference will be given to micro and small enterprises, and 25% of the tendered quantity will be reserved for MSE suppliers. Out of the 25% of the amount tendered for MSEs, 20% will be earmarked for procurement from MSEs owned by SC/ST entrepreneurs.

Recently, REIL issued a notice inviting tender for the supply of 600,000 multicrystalline solar cells with wattages of 4.5W, 4.6W, and 4.67W. The tender was floated for 200,000 solar cells for each wattage category.

Earlier, REIL had invited bids for 1.1 million solar cells with wattages of 4.5W, 4.6W, and 4.67W. The scope of work included the supply of 300,000 of 4.5W, 400,000 of 4.6W, and 400,000 of 4.67W multicrystalline silicon solar cells to REIL.