The Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL) has invited bids for off-grid rural electrification through 71,199 standalone solar systems on a turnkey basis under the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijlee Har Ghar Yojana (SAUBHAGYA) program.

The scope of work includes site survey, planning, design, engineering, assembly manufacturing, testing, supply, loading, transportation, unloading, insurance, handling, storage, installation, testing, commissioning, and documentation of all items required to complete the installation of the standalone solar systems.

The successful bidder will also have to take care of maintenance activities of the system for five years.

A bidder may submit a maximum of five packages separately in the same tendering process, either individually as a bidder or as a partner of a consortium. The tender has been divided into 17 packages covering various districts of the state.

The estimated cost of the project is ₹50,000 (~$679) per system.

The last date to submit the bids online is September 28, 2021, and bids will be opened on September 29.

The project must be completed before December 31, 2021.

Interested bidders will have to submit ₹2.5 million (~$33,960) as an earnest money deposit. Micro and small enterprises (MSEs) have been exempted from paying the EMD. As a performance bank guarantee, the successful bidder will have to furnish 3% of the total order value.

To participate in the bidding process, the bidder should have experience of successfully executing a single completed work of design, installation, and commissioning of solar street lighting systems, solar home lighting systems, off-grid-solar projects, or grid-connected solar projects in the last seven years. The value of the contract for each package is given below:

Regarding the financial criteria, the bidder’s net worth in the last three financial years should be positive.  The package wise minimum average annual turnover for the best three out of the last five financial years is given below:

The bidder should have liquid assets of not less than an amount as mentioned below, and the banker should confirm that the credit facility has been earmarked for the work specified under the bid on receipt of the bid.

The solar modules must be indigenously manufactured. The solar modules should be made up of crystalline silicon solar cells and must have a certificate of testing conforming to IEC 61215 Edition II or Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) 14286. The module efficiency should not be less than 14%, and the array capacity of solar modules should not be less than 300Wp.

Assam has been deploying smaller solar systems due to the challenge of the availability of land for large-scale solar projects.

Last December, the Government of Assam invited bids for the supply and installation of solar home lighting systems for scheduled caste (SC) beneficiaries in Assam on a rate contract basis for one year.

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