The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has issued a tender for setting up 14 MW of solar power projects with 42 MWh battery storage system (7MW/21 MWh each) at Leh and Kargil divisions under the Prime Minister Development Package 2015.

The last date for the submission of bids is March 16, 2020, and the pre-bid meeting will take place on February 17, 2020.

SECI had initially issued an NIT for the tender in March 2019.

Interested bidders will have to submit an amount of ₹19.6 million (~$273,178) as the earnest money deposit (EMD).

The scheduled commercial operation date (SCoD) of the projects will be 18 months from the date of the award of the order. The project should be designed for interconnection with the nearest substation of the buying entity at the voltage level of 11 kV.

The projects should be developed on a build-own-operate basis, and the selected project will be given a viability gap funding (VGF) in line with the terms and conditions of this RfS. The upper limit for the VGF to be quoted by a bidder has been kept at ₹130 million ($1.81 million) for 1 MW solar project with battery storage of 3 MWh.

SECI will release 50% of the VGF after the supply of the equipment at the project site, and the remaining 50% will be released after the successful commissioning of the project.

The tariff to be paid to the successful solar power developer (SPD) by the buying entity has been set as ₹2.00 ($0.028)/kWh at the interconnection point, which will remain flat for the entire period of the PPA.

The land for setting up the solar projects with battery storage will be facilitated and made available to the developer by the Ladakh Renewable Energy Development Agency (LREDA) and Kargil Renewable Energy Development Agency (KREDA) separately. The LREDA & KREDA will also provide the required land for the establishment of a substation.  The declared annual capacity utilization factor (CUF) should not be less than 17%.

The successful bidder can also execute the project through an SPV, with at least 76% shareholding.  Any consortium should incorporate a project company with equity participation by the members in line with the consortium agreement before signing of PPA with SECI.

Regarding the financial eligibility, the net worth of the bidder should be at least ₹392 million (~$5.46 million) as on the last date of the previous financial year. The minimum annual turnover of the bidder should be ₹41.72 million (~$581,565) during the last fiscal year 2018-19.

Last year, Mercom reported that Leh and Kargil, two of India’s most challenging and inhospitable terrains, were finally connected to the national electricity grid.

Earlier, SECI once again extended the deadline for the submission of bids for its mega solar tender of 7.5 GW capacity. These grid-connected solar power projects are slated to be developed in Leh-Kargil districts.