The Telangana State Renewable Energy Development Corporation (TSREDCO) has extended the bid submission date of a tender it had issued on March 3, 2019, for a 31.12 MW grid-connected rooftop solar PV project under the RESCO model.

With the 2019 general elections underway, the solar tender and auction activity has slowed down. Since the announcement of election dates, the central and state implementing agencies have issued fewer tenders, and deadline extensions are common.

The revised date for bid submission is now May 29, 2019, from the earlier date of May 15, 2019.  The applicability date for the e-reverse auction is extended from May 20, 2019, to June 3, 2019. The opening date for technical bids is extended from May 13, 2019, to May 27, 2019, while the opening date for price and financial e-bidding has been extended from May 18, 201, to June 1, 2019.

The solar PV systems, equipped with net metering, are to be installed on vacant building rooftops of pump houses, reservoirs, sewage and waste treatment plants, and office buildings of Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board.

The brief scope of work as specified in the tender includes the design, supply, installation, testing, and the commissioning of the 31.12 MW grid-connected rooftop solar PV projects.

Telangana has issued several smaller rooftop tenders recently.

Recently, Karimnagar Municipal Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding with TSREDCO  for the installation of 1.35 MW of solar rooftop projects.

In February 2018, TSREDCO issued a tender for the empanelment of rooftop solar installers in the state. The tender covered rooftop solar projects of capacities ranging between 1 kW and 1,000 kW in Telangana.

Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) approved net metering for solar rooftop customers in the state with systems ranging from 1 kW to 1 MW. The tariff paid to the customer would be based on the average power purchase cost to a DISCOM.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, so far, India has installed over 30 GW of solar capacity out of which rooftop solar installations make up only 12%.

Mercom recently published an analysis of India’s rooftop solar sector which asserted that new policy ideas and implementation by central and state governments are the need of the hour.