The Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) has issued a notice inviting tender (NIT) for 34 MW of ground-based solar projects at Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) in Telangana.

Interested bidders will have to submit an amount of ₹30.872 million (~$416,542) as the earnest money deposit (EMD), and the last date for the submission of online bids is April 20, 2020. The pre-bid meeting will take place on March 30, 2020.

The total project capacity of 34 MW (AC) is to be developed at two different sites. The capacity of 11 MW will be developed at the Chennur site of SCCL, and the remaining 23 MW capacity will be developed at the Kothagudam site of SCCL. The tender comes under the domestic content requirement (DCR) category.  The contract will also include the operation and maintenance of the solar power project for ten years.

A foreign company is free to participate in the bidding process on a standalone basis or as a consortium. In case a foreign company participating on a standalone basis gets selected, it will have to form an Indian company registered under the Companies Act, 2013. Limited liability partnerships, proprietorships, partnerships, NGOs, charitable trusts, and educational societies will not be allowed to participate in the bidding process.

Regarding the technical criteria, the bidder should have experience in EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) of ground-mounted solar power projects on a turnkey basis or as a developer of at least 17 MW in the last seven financial years. Also, such a grid-connected solar project must have been in satisfactory operation for at least six months before the last date of bid submission. At least two of these solar projects should have an individual capacity of 4 MW or more.

Regarding the financial eligibility, the minimum annual turnover of the bidder in the last three financial years should be ₹617.440 million (~$8.33 million) and the net worth of the bidder for the last financial years should be positive. The bidder should have a minimum working capital of ₹385.9 million (~$5.21 million) as per the last audited statement.

In the case of a joint venture or consortium, there should be a maximum of three members in the consortium, and the lead partner of the consortium should individually meet at least 50% of the minimum financial eligibility conditions. However, all the consortium partners collectively should meet 100% of the financial eligibility conditions.

Recently, SECI floated tenders for a total of 81 MW (AC) of solar projects at Singareni Collieries Company Limited.

Then in April last year, SECI had announced a tender for the development of 100 MW of solar power projects in Telangana. The scope of work included the design, engineering, supply, construction, erection, testing, and commissioning of a 100 MW (AC) solar project under different packages at the SCCL.

Previously, Mercom also reported that SCCL was planning to develop 300 MW of solar projects in captive mode on vacant lands at various locations of the company.