The Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) has floated a tender for the installation of 500 solar home cooking systems in five districts spanning across the states of Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat.

The five districts where the projects are to be installed are Ribhoi (Meghalaya), Bastar (Chattisgarh), Girdih (Jharkhand), Bahraich (Uttar Pradesh) and Modhera (Gujarat).

The deadline for the completion of this project is nine months.

Interested bidders need to deposit an amount of ₹20,000 (~$281.52) as the bid processing fee. The bidders are also expected to pay an amount of ₹0.4 million (~$5,630.41) as the earnest money deposit (EMD).

The deadline for the submission of bids is November 8, 2019, while the techno-commercial bid opening date has been scheduled for November 11, 2019.

The scope of work involves the design, manufacture, supply, installation, testing, and commissioning of the home cooking systems. The scope of work would also include a one-year overall system warranty of all the equipment and accessories supplied and installed. The successful bidder will also be responsible for the annual maintenance contract of 500 solar home cooking systems.

As far as the technical eligibility is concerned, prospective bidders should be the manufacturers of SPV cells, modules, battery, PV system electronics, or solar PV cooking systems. The manufacturing facility must be in operation for at least one year. Besides these conditions, the bidder who has designed, supplied, installed and commissioned at least 250 solar PV home cooking systems of not less than 1 kW in the last seven years will also be eligible to participate.

According to SECI, the minimum average annual turnover of the bidder in the last three financial years should be at least ₹16 million (~$0.23 million).

Solar solutions like home cooking systems and streetlights can go a long way in ensuring energy efficiency and independence in rural areas of the country where grid connectivity is erratic and sometimes unavailable.

Both state and central governments have acknowledged the role off-grid solar solutions can play in increasing the energy independence of these rural areas sustainably.

For instance, recently, the state of Tamil Nadu issued 43 tenders to supply, install, and commission LED-based solar home lighting systems in 53,734 houses located in the rural areas of the state. The project falls under the Chief Minister’s Solar Powered Greenhouse Scheme (CMSPGHS) for the year 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19.

In July 2019, Mercom had reported that under the government’s UJALA program, the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) had distributed over 353 million LED bulbs so far. This, in turn, has resulted in an estimated energy savings of 45.85 billion kWh per year with an avoided peak demand of 9,180 MW and an estimated greenhouse emission reduction of 37.13 million tons of carbon dioxide annually.

Last year, the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) built a partnership with the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society’s (BRLPS) JEEViKA program through an innovative institutional model to make clean energy products affordable to local women-based self-help groups. The program benefitted over 50,000 households across Bihar by providing access to solar home lighting systems and clean cookstoves.

Image credit: SUNSPOT