The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has once again extended the bid submission deadline for the 100 MW (AC) of solar power projects along with a 40MW/120 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS). The project is to be developed in the Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh.

The bid submission deadline has been extended to January 14, 2021, from  January 07. The bids will be opened on the same day.

SECI had initially floated the tender in September last year.

In November, SECI issued amendments to tender documents and reduced the BESS capacity to 40 MW/120 MWh from 50 MW/150 MWh.

According to amendments, the annual capacity utilization factor (CUF) guarantee has been removed. As per the earlier version of the tender, if the contractor failed to achieve the annual guaranteed CUF (36.5%) at the end of the tenth year, then the contractor was liable to pay a compensation amount equal to the net present value of the revenue loss for 10th to 25th year. If the CUF was less than what was guaranteed, the contractor had to compensate for liquidated damages equivalent to the cost of the energy, subject to a maximum of 100% of the total annual operation and maintenance cost.

As per the amendments, the cell technology used for the project should be monocrystalline and bifacial. Earlier, multicrystalline technology was allowed. The amended clause also mentioned that any delay beyond 180 days in signing the subcontracting agreement would attract 1.25% in liquidated damages per month on the project’s total cost.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, SECI has so far tendered 373 MW of BESS projects.

Recently, SECI floated a tender for a 20 MW solar power project with a 50 MWh BESS. The project will be set up in the  Leh district of the union territory of Ladakh. The scope of scope included the design, engineering, procurement, supply, testing, packing, associated civil works, installation, testing, and commissioning of the solar power project and BESS along with interconnected transmission lines and performance demonstration.

Earlier, SECI had once again extended the bid submission deadline for its tender for 14 MW of solar projects with 42 MWh BESS (7MW/21 MWh each). The projects are set to be developed at Leh and Kargil.