Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Limited (PGVCL) has invited bids to design, supply, install and commission solar projects of an aggregate capacity of 1.125 MW for various agricultural feeders along with the associated 11 kV line and the remote monitoring system under the renewable energy service company (RESCO) model.

The successful bidder will also have to take care of the operation and maintenance activities of the project for 25 years.

The projects will be developed under the Component C of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiayan (PM-KUSUM) program. Under this program component, the government aims to install 1.5 million grid-connected agricultural pumps across the country.

The ceiling tariff for the tender has been set as ₹2.40 (~$0.032)/kWh.

The last date to submit the bids online is March 9, 2022. Bids will be opened on March 16.

The project must be commissioned within nine months from signing the power purchase agreement (PPA).

All bidders are to submit a bid security declaration for the amount of ₹112,500 (~$1,505) against the exemption of earnest money deposit. The successful bidder will have to furnish an amount equivalent to ₹500,000 (~$6,660)/MW as a performance bank guarantee within 15 days from the issuance of the letter of award.

The successful bidder will get central financial assistance (CFA) of ₹10.5 million (~$139,871)/MW. The CFA up to 100% of the total eligible CFA will be released to the developer through the distribution company (DISCOM) on successful commissioning and declaration of the commercial operation date of the solar power project.

It will be the developer’s responsibility to procure land for the feeder-level solarization projects.

It will be mandatory to use domestically manufactured solar panels with domestic solar cells and modules. The manufacturer of solar modules should have supplied net modules of more than 1 MW in other projects having domestically manufactured cells. The same should have been successfully performing for over one year as of the bid submission date.

It will be the developer’s responsibility, entirely at its cost and expense, to install solar panels and associated equipment as may be necessary to achieve the required minimum capacity utilization factor (CUF) of 17%.

The bidder should have an electrical contractor license in Gujarat.

To participate in the bidding process, the bidder should have experience in supplying, installing, and commissioning grid-connected solar power projects with a cumulative capacity of 1 MW with a minimum capacity of 100 kW or more during the last five years for any government or private organization in India.

The bidder should have a positive net worth in the last three financial years. The bidder’s minimum average annual turnover in the last three financial years should not be less than ₹11.82 million (~$157,455).

Last December, PGVCL invited bids to design, supply, install, and commission solar projects of an aggregate capacity of 1.024 MW for various agricultural feeders along with the associated 11 kV line and the remote monitoring system under the RESCO model.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, tenders for 75.4 MW of grid-connected agriculture pumps have been floated under Component C of the KSUSM program in Gujarat.