The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has extended the commissioning timelines for its tender for 97.5 MW of grid-connected rooftop solar systems on government building across the country.

In its notice, it said successful bidders were now expected to commission their sanctioned projects by January 20, 2021, for zones 1, 2, and 3, and by April 22, 2021, for zone 4.

It also extended the timeline for submitting project sanction documents to October 20, 2020, for zones 1, 2, and 3 and to January 20, 2021, for zone 4. It noted that these dates would be extended if necessary, depending on the merit of the case.

Previously, the projects were to be commissioned within nine months (RESCO projects) and 12 months (CAPEX projects) from the date of issue of the letter of allocation. The tender documents allowed a six-month extension, if necessary. The LoA was issued on January 15, 2020.

In January, Mercom reported that SECI announced the list of successful bidders selected for its 97.5 MW rooftop solar tender. A little earlier, it had asked bidders to conduct due diligence of the zone-wise lowest project cost/fixed tariff discovered in the bidding and give their consent for matching the lowest bid. The bidders had to send the consent for matching with the L1 price by January 8, 2020.

The total capacity of 97.5 MW had been divided into three categories. The first category was for 10 MW under the CAPEX model (Part-A), the second was for 85 MW for RESCO model (Part-B), and the third for 2.5 MW under the CAPEX model (Part-C).

This tender had seen multiple deadline extensions amid inadequate bidder participation. In August, SECI had reissued the tender that was originally issued in February 2019. Another reason for reissuing the tender was that the updates were delayed due to the change of portal from TCIL (Telecommunications Consultants India) to the Bharat tender portal.