The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has invited bids for 32 MW (AC) overburden dump-based solar projects at different sites of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) in Telangana.

The contract will also involve the operation & maintenance (O&M) of the projects for ten years.

The total project capacity of 32 MW will be developed at two different sites. The capacity of 22 MW will be developed at the Ramagundam site of SCCL, and 10 MW will be developed at the Dorli site of SCCL.

Interested bidders will have to submit an amount of ₹29.056 million (~$387,119) as the earnest money deposit, and the last date for the submission of bids is April 22, 2020. A pre-bid meeting will take place on April 02, 2020.

Government-owned enterprises that are registered and incorporated in India and limited liability companies that are engaged in the business of power and infrastructure are also eligible to take part in this tender.

A foreign bidder can also participate on a standalone basis or through a consortium or a joint venture.  In case a foreign company is selected as the successful bidder, it has to form an Indian company registered under the Companies Act, 2013 as its subsidiary company with at least 76% shareholding in the subsidiary company within 30 days from the date of issue of Letter of Intent (LoI).

The technical criteria state that the bidders should have experience in EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) on a turnkey basis or as a developer of 16 MW in the last seven financial years. Also, such solar projects should have been in satisfactory operation for at least six months.

Similarly, the bidder should have experience in EPC execution of ground-mounted projects on a turnkey basis or as a developer for two solar projects with an individual capacity of at least 4 MW in the last seven years. The solar project should have been in operation for six months.

In terms of financial criteria, the minimum average annual turnover of the bidder in the last three financial years should be ₹581.12 million (~$7.74 million) and the net worth of the company for the last financial year should be positive. The bidders should have a minimum working capital of ₹363.2 million (~$4.84 million) as per the last audited statement.

In the case of a joint venture or consortium of two or more companies, the lead partner of the joint venture or consortium should 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 issued a notice inviting tender (NIT) for 34 MW of ground-based solar projects at Singareni Collieries Company Limited in Telangana.

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

Previously, Mercom had reported that SECI had announced a tender for the development of 100 MW of solar power projects in Telangana.