The Solar Electricity Corporation of India (SECI) has issued a detailed request for selection documents to set up 1,200 MW of interstate transmission system (ISTS) connected solar projects.

The tender was announced in December 2019, but the details were not available then.

Interested bidders are expected to pay an earnest money deposit of ₹400,000 (~$5,563)/MW. The last date for the submission of bids is February 4, 2020. A tariff cap of ₹2.78 (~$0.03)/kWh has been set for the tender.

The installation of the solar PV power projects must be done on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis under tranche VIII of the ISTS program.

The tender further adds that the procurement of land, connectivity of the projects, and the long-term open access (LTOA) would be the responsibility of the solar power developer. The selection of projects would be technology agnostic, meaning that any solar PV technology can be used for the projects.

To be eligible to take part in the competitive bidding process, applicants must have had a net worth greater than ₹10.7 million (~$148,830) and a minimum annual turnover of ₹5 million (~$69,546) in the last financial year.

The document said that projects should range between 50 MW and 300 MW in capacity and must be undertaken only in multiples of 10 MW.

SECI recently invited an expression of interest from power generators involved in hydro, pumped storage, gas, battery storage, and thermal generating stations to supply power to SECI, which it would then blend with different renewable sources. The aim is to meet the challenges posed by the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources, which need to be supplemented with other conventional sources of power. The deadline for the submission of the EoI is January 31, 2019.

Image credit: Mahindra Susten