The Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (APTRANSCO) has invited bids for increasing the capacity of interconnecting transformers in the state’s solar parks.

The augmentation of the interconnecting transformers’ capacity will be from 3 x 315 MVA to (3 x 315 MVA + 1 x 500 MVA). It would include the construction of four 220kV bay extensions at the 400kV Talaricheruvu substation for Urichintala solar park in the Anantapuramu district.

The contract also includes developing two 220kV bay extensions at 400kV Jammalamadugu substation for Kambaladinne solar park in Kadapa district and the construction of a 220kV switching station at Mudigubba in Anantapuramu district.

The last date for the submission of bids is October 14, 2020, and the pre-bid meeting will take place on September 25, 2020.

Interested bidders will have to submit an amount of ₹13.53 million (~$183,927) as the bid security deposit.

This is local competitive bidding and is open for all bidders who have registered offices in India.

To take part in the competitive bidding process, the bidder should have successfully executed one 400/220 kV and four 220 kV bays in a substation or one 400/220kV potential transformer high and low voltage bay and four 220 kV bays in a substation. The project should have been in operation for at least one year as on the date of the bid opening.

Under the financial criteria, the bidder should have achieved an annual financial turnover of at least 100% of the estimated cost in any one year during the last five years.

In the case of a joint venture, the maximum number of members should be two, and the share of the lead member should not be less than 51% of the total stake.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, Andhra Pradesh has 3.5 GW of large-scale solar projects in operations, and approximately 1.3 GW of projects are under the development pipeline, as of June 2020.

Recently, Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation requested the state’s electricity regulatory commission to approve the tariff of ₹3.57 (~$0.05)/kWh for 400 MW of solar projects developed in the Ananthapuram II ultra-mega solar park.

In December last year, the Andhra Pradesh Solar Power Corporation Private Limited had issued operation and maintenance tenders for two of the state’s ultra-mega solar parks. The O&M tenders were floated for 1.5 GW of solar projects at Anantapuramu and 1 GW of projects at Kurnool ultra-mega solar park.