Of late, the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency (WBREDA) has issued several tenders for the expansion of solar in the state, with the latest tender calling for the development of 7 MW of grid-connected solar PV power projects in Durgapur. The projects are to be developed on a turnkey basis.

The brief scope of work includes the supply, design, engineering, manufacturing, installation, and commissioning of the project. A bidder will also have to provide operations and maintenance (O&M) for a period of five years.

The last date for bid submissions is April 10, 2019. The techno-commercial bids will open on April 17, 2019.

The estimated cost of the project is ₹328.7million (~$4.80 million). A bidder will get a year to complete the project. A bidder should have a minimum average annual turnover of 30 percent of the estimated project cost in the last three financial years.

Last week, WBREDA had issued a tender for setting up 2 MW of grid-connected rooftop solar PV projects under residential, institutional and social sectors in the state. Under the residential, institutional and social sectors, central financial assistance of 30 percent of the project cost will be provided, based on the discovered rate or actual project cost (whichever is lesser).

Recently, Mercom reported about WBREDA issuing a tender to install 11 MW of rooftop solar power systems. While 900 of these installations would come with 10 kW of capacity, 100 rooftop grid-connected solar power projects would have 20 kW of capacity and installed at various organizations in West Bengal.

Earlier, WBREDA tendered 2 MW of grid-connected rooftop solar projects to be developed on customers’ premises in residential, institutional, and social sectors. The grid-connected rooftop solar PV projects were divided into two categories; Type A would have system size range of 5 kW to 10 kW and benchmark cost of ₹60 (~$0.858)/W, Type B would have system size range of 10 kW to 100 kW and benchmark cost of ₹55 (~$0.78)/W.