The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) has invited bids for 487 MW of decentralized solar projects of 500 kW to 2 MW capacity under Component A of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) program in Maharashtra.

The ceiling tariff for the tender is ₹3.10 (~$0.042)/kWh.

The last date to submit the bids online is September 17, 2021.

Bidders will have to submit an amount of ₹100,000 (~$1,344)/MW per project as the earnest money deposit. The successful bidder will have to submit an amount of ₹500,000/MW as a performance bank guarantee within 30 days from issuing the letter of award.

Bidders could participate as an individual or group of farmers, cooperatives, panchayats, farmer producer organizations, or water user organizations setting up the project on their lands. If the bidders fail to arrange the equity needed to set up the projects, they may set up the project through a developer by signing a land lease agreement. In such a case, the landowner will get lease rent.

Individual farmers, farmer groups, farmers setting up the project on leased land, farmers setting up the project as part of a consortium, cooperatives, panchayats, farmer producer organizations, water user associations, and farmers setting up the project on their lands are exempt from meeting the financial eligibility requirement.

If a developer sets up the project on the leased land, the company’s net worth should not be less than ₹10 million (~$134,383)/MW of the quoted capacity for the last financial year. During the last financial year, the bidder’s average annual turnover should be ₹2.5 million (~$33,619)/MW of the quoted capacity. The bidder’s internal resource generation capacity in the form of profit before depreciation, interest, and taxes should be at least ₹1 million (~$13,447)/MW of the quoted capacity as of the last date of the previous financial year.

Also, the bidder should have an approval letter from the lending institution committing a line of credit for a minimum amount of ₹1.25 million (~$16,809)/MW of the quoted capacity towards meeting the capital requirement.

The project should be designed to deliver energy at the 11/22 kV level of the substation of MSEDCL. The successful bidder will be responsible for transmitting power up to the interconnection point and energy accounting infrastructure.

When signing the power purchase agreement, the solar generator will have to declare the capacity utilization factor (CUF). It will be allowed to revise the same once within the first year of the commissioning date. The declared CUF should, in no case, be less than 15% over a year.

Recently, the Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam issued a request for proposal to select solar power generators to install 50 MW of grid-connected solar power projects connected to 33/11 kV substations under Component A of the PM-KSUSM program.

In June this year, MSEDCL had invited bids for 500 MW of distributed solar projects (500 kW to 2 MW) under Component A of the PM KUSUM program. The ceiling tariff for the project was set at ₹3.05 (~$0.042)/kWh.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, tenders for 1.93 GW of solar projects have been floated in the country under Component-A of the KUSUM program by various organizations.