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					</table><p>Assam Power Distribution Company (<a href="https://www.apdcl.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">APDCL</a>) has issued an expression of interest (EoI) to install solar projects of a cumulative capacity of 357 MW on agricultural land within a 5 km radius of 33/11 kV substations.</p>
<p>Each project will be between 500 kW and 2 MW. However, in specific cases, APDCL may also allow implementing projects with a less than 500 kW capacity.</p>
<p>Bids must be submitted by May 8, 2025. Bids will be opened on May 9.</p>
<p>Bidders must furnish an application fee of ₹5,000 (~$58.5)/MW and an earnest money deposit of ₹100,000 (~$1,170.5)/MW as a bank guarantee.</p>
<p>Selected bidders must set up decentralized grid-connected ground or stilt-mounted solar systems at various locations within a 5 km radius of the 33/11 kV substations. They must also ensure adequate arrangements for interconnecting the solar project, metering point, and delivery point with the substations.</p>
<p>Successful bidders must supply the power generated continuously to APDCL for 25 years.</p>
<p>Bidders must be farmers using their barren and uncultivable land for the projects. Cultivable land can be utilized, provided the solar installations are built on stilts, allowing crop growth underneath. The minimum land requirement for a solar pet is 20,067 sq m.</p>
<p>If individual farmers, groups of farmers, cooperatives, panchayats, farmer-producer organizations, or water user associations cannot arrange equity to set up the projects, they can opt to install them through other developers.</p>
<p>Bidders must have a net worth of ₹10 million (~$117,157). However, no financial eligibility is required for farmers, groups of farmers, cooperatives, panchayats, and farmer-producer organizations.</p>
<p>Bidders must have designed, supplied, installed, and commissioned grid-connected solar projects with a minimum capacity of 500 kW in the last seven years. Farmers, groups of farmers, cooperatives, panchayats, farmer-producer organizations, and water user associations will not require technical eligibility.</p>
<p>In March this year, APDCL <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/assam-invites-bids-for-pooling-substation-for-1-gw-solar-project" target="_blank" rel="noopener">invited</a> bids to develop a 400 kV/33 kV pooling substation for a 1 GW solar power project in Assam.</p>
<p>Subscribe to Mercom’s <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/india-solar-tender-tracker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India Solar Tender Tracker</a> for timely updates on all solar tenders issued by various agencies in India.</p>


Assam Issues EoI to Set Up 357 MW Solar Projects on Agricultural Land


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					</table><p>The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (<a href="https://www.uhbvn.org.in/web/portal/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UHBVN</a>) has invited expressions of interest to set up 40 MW of decentralized grid-connected ground/stilt-mounted solar power projects under component A of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) program.</p>
<p>The projects will be developed on barren/uncultivable and agricultural land falling within a radius of five kilometers from substations notified by UHBVN.</p>
<p>They must have capacities varying from 500 kW to 2 MW and be connected to 33/11 kV, 66/11 kV, and 132/11 kV substations.</p>
<p>The last date to submit the bids is December 27, 2023. Bids will be opened on December 28.</p>
<p>Bidders must submit an earnest money deposit (EMD) of ₹100,000 (~$1,199)/MW of the quoted capacity. For selected bidders, the EMD amount will be converted into a performance bank guarantee amount.</p>
<p>The selected developers must submit a detailed project report, financial closure documents, and grid feasibility clearance report to the UHBVN within six months of receiving the letter of award.</p>
<p>The projects must be commissioned within 12 months of receiving the letter of award.</p>
<p>The land required is 4 acres per MW. Agricultural land is permitted under the program, provided the solar modules are installed in a stilt fashion with adequate spacing between module rows to ensure farming activity is not affected.</p>
<p>The selected developer must sign a 25-year power purchase agreement with the Haryana Power Purchase Centre at a pre-fixed levelized tariff of ₹3.11 (~$0.0373)/kWh as notified by the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission.</p>
<p>If the total capacity of eligible applications received for a particular substation exceeds the notified capacity, an e-reverse auction will be conducted, and capacities will be allocated based on the lowest tariff offered.</p>
<p>Farmers, groups of farmers, cooperatives, panchayats, farmer producer organizations, and water user associations with their own land or a land lease agreement can participate in the tender as solar power generators.</p>
<p>The tender considers ₹40 million (~$479,833) per MW as the solar project installation cost. Applicants must show proof of funds for at least 30% of the quoted capacity cost.</p>
<p>Companies submitting the bids are required to demonstrate or infuse the capital in the form of their own equity in line with the requirement.</p>
<p>They must have a net worth of not less than ₹10 million (~$119,958) per MW of the quoted capacity as of the last financial year.</p>
<p>The selected developer must maintain a capacity utilization factor of a minimum of 15% annually during the entire PPA period.</p>
<p>UHBVN has mandated the use of solar modules listed in the latest Approved List of Models and Manufacturers issued by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.</p>
<p>Haryana recently <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/haryana-draft-solar-policy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposed</a> the Solar Power Policy 2023, with an aim to install 6 GW of solar projects by 2030, comprising 3.2 GW of ground-mounted solar, 1.6 GW of rooftop solar, and the solarization of 1.2 GW of irrigation pumps.</p>
<p>In April 2023, HPPC, a joint forum of UHBVN and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/haryana-bids-procure-500-mw-of-solar-power" target="_blank" rel="noopener">invited</a> bids for supplying 500 MW of solar power from grid-connected solar projects in Haryana.</p>
<p>Subscribe to Mercom’s <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/product/india-solar-tender-tracker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India Solar Tender Tracker</a> for timely updates on all tenders issued by various agencies in India.</p>


Haryana DISCOM Floats Tender for 40 MW Solar Projects Under KUSUM

<p>The state government of Punjab has approved a pilot solar photovoltaic (PV) project to be developed on agricultural land.</p>
<p>The pilot project for solar energy generation will be developed on agricultural land on a rental basis, besides allowing farmers to undertake high-value cultivation of fruits and vegetables.</p>
<p>According to a Press Trust of India (PTI) report, Punjab’s chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh approved the launch of the pilot project on July 16, 2018.</p>
<p>Chairing a meeting with a Confederation of Indian Industry (<a href="https://www.cii.in/Index.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CII</a>) delegation, led by CII national president Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Singh also agreed to send a joint deputation from Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) and senior officers from agriculture and horticulture department to visit Maharashtra to examine a similar project developed under CII.</p>
<p>Director General CII Chandrajit Banerjee informed Singh that several private players were interested in setting up solar projects over the land of farmers for a minimum lease period of 25 years.</p>
<p>Underscoring the need to motivate farmers to move towards crop diversification, the chief minister hoped that the same project could be replicated in the Kandi area and southwest Punjab, especially in the citrus orchards and vegetable-growing belt near Ludhiana and Malerkotla.</p>
<p>Most of the land in Punjab is cultivable, leaving few areas where solar PV projects can be developed. In the past too, Punjab was <a href="https://mercomindia.com/11-mw-canal-bank-canal-top-solar-projects-commissioned-india/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one of the first states to adopt canal bank and canal top</a> solar PV projects. In such a scenario, the success of this pilot project can be a game-changer for the state’s renewable growth story.</p>
<p>Singh also approved a green building pilot project, as suggested by CII, and expressed his willingness to implement the concept in the upcoming government medical college and hospital at Mohali. The principal secretary will work out modalities in consultation with Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) to evolve the necessary guidelines for making the concept mandatory for new government buildings to cut down substantially on the carbon footprint and to save on energy.</p>


Punjab to Begin a Pilot Solar PV Project on Agricultural Land

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