Amid the ensuing COVID-19 crisis, the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has once again extended the bid submission deadline for its tender for 14 MW of solar projects with 42 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) (7MW/21 MWh each).

The projects are set to be developed at Leh and Kargil. As per the latest announcement, the bid submission deadline has been extended to September 30, 2020. The existing deadline for the submission of bids was July 30, 2020.

Before this, the deadline for the submission of bids was June 30, 2020. SECI had extended the deadline to June 30, 2020, from June 01, 2020. Before that as well, it had extended the bid submission deadline to June 01, 2020, from April 16, 2020.

In February, SECI had floated a tender for the setting up of 14 MW of solar power projects with 42 MWh battery storage system at Leh and Kargil divisions under the Prime Minister Development Package 2015.

In one of its earlier extension notifications, SECI had said, “It’s evident that the global outbreak of COVID-19 has significantly hampered the functioning of all sectors including institutions, commercial establishments, offices, and various manufacturing units. India is passing through this crucial time, having a complete lockdown of all the states and union territories (UTs) until April 14, 2020. In such a situation, the site visit for the subject request for selection (RfS) has already been postponed for an indefinite period.”

According to the tender document, the projects will 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 the tender. 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 a 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 land for the setting up of the projects 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.