The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has issued a request for selection (RfS) of electrolyzer manufacturers for setting up 1.5 GW of electrolyzer manufacturing capacities in India under Tranche-I of the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition (SIGHT) Program.

The last date to submit the bids is September 5, 2023. Bids will be opened on September 8.

Bidders must submit a bid processing fee of ₹1.5 million (~$18,153) and an earnest money deposit of ₹740,000 (~$8,955)/MW of the quoted capacity.

The successful bidders must submit a performance bank guarantee of ₹1.48 million (~$17,911)/MW of the allotted capacity within 15 days of receiving the notification of the award.

Under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) SIGHT program, the government has allotted ₹44.4 billion (~$537.33 million) as incentives for electrolyzer manufacturing.

SECI will act as the implementing agency for the transparent selection process and provide incentives based on the capacity calculated per kW.

The base incentive will start at ₹4,440 (~$54)/kW in the first year and progressively reduce to ₹3,700 (~$45)/kW in the second year, ₹2,960 (~$36)/kW in the third year, ₹2,220 (~$27)/kW in the fourth year, and ₹1,480 (~$18)/kW in the fifth year.

The bids are invited under two buckets – (i) Electrolyzer manufacturing capacity based on any stack technology (1200 MW) and (ii) Electrolyzer manufacturing capacity based on indigenously developed stack technology (300 MW).

Bidders submitting offers for the first bucket must bid for a minimum of 100 MW and a maximum of 300 MW manufacturing capacity. For the second bucket, bidders can submit offers for up to 300 MW manufacturing capacity.

Bidders will be allowed to bid for either or both the buckets. The bids for the first bucket will be decided first, and the maximum capacity allotted to a single bidder will be limited to 300 MW.

The bidders who win less than 300 MW in the first bucket will be considered for the balance capacity under the second bucket.

The selected bidder must set up the manufacturing facilities within 24 months of receiving the letter of award.

Bidders will be evaluated based on two crucial parameters to encourage efficient and high-quality electrolyzers in India.

The first parameter is the Specific Energy Consumption (SEC), which directly impacts the cost of green hydrogen production. The incentives will consider SEC as a determining factor, which should be equal to or less than 56 kWh/kg of green hydrogen production.

The second parameter is local value addition, where bidders must demonstrate a progressive increase in local value addition ranging from 40% to 80% for alkaline electrolyzers and 30% to 70% for proton exchange membrane/anion exchange membrane/solid oxide electrolyzers, year by year.

Bidders must specify their annual manufacturing capacity, committed SEC for each year, and committed local value addition.

The guaranteed life of electrolyzers must be at least 60,000 hrs.

To be eligible, the net worth of the bidders for the financial year 2022-23 must be equal to or greater than ₹10 million (~$121,020)/ MW of the quoted capacity.

Earlier this month, the MNRE unveiled a draft roadmap outlining the research and development priorities for manufacturing and storing green hydrogen.

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