SJVN Limited has invited expressions of interest (EoI) from interested parties for shortlisting suitable land for the development of 500 MW of solar projects in Rajasthan.

SJVN requires 3,000 acres of land to develop the Ultra Mega Renewable Energy Power Project (UMREPP). For this,  it has invited proposals from landowners, farmers, cooperative societies, and land aggregators who are willing to sell land on an outright basis or long-term lease of 28 years.

SJVN is a joint venture of the government of India and the state government of Himachal Pradesh. The last date for the submission of bids is August 26, 2020, and the opening of bids will take place on the same date.

As per the tender document, SJVN Limited requires a minimum of 1,000 acres of land at a single location and within 10-20 km from any existing 220 kV or 400 kV substation.

Preference will be given to land parcels based on their distance from the substation, availability of land bank as a single connected batch, water availability, topography, forest land, road connectivity, and global horizontal irradiance (GHI). There should not be any government restriction for setting up solar power projects on the land.

Recently, SJVN announced that it won 100 MW of solar projects in the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited’s (GUVNL) auction for 700 MW of solar projects in Dholera solar park (Phase IX). In a National Stock Exchange (NSE) filing, the company said that it won the projects at a tariff of ₹2.8 (~$0.038)/kWh on a build-own-operate basis.

Earlier, it had issued a notice inviting expressions of interest from interested parties to offer their solar and hydropower projects for acquisition by SJVN. To increase its geostrategic reach, SJVN is planning to acquire hydro and solar power projects in Indian states under various stages of operation & maintenance, construction, and survey & investigation.

Previously, SJVN had issued a tender to empanel experienced solar engineering, procurement, and construction companies.