The Irrigation and Water Resource Department (IWRD) in the state of Uttar Pradesh has issued a tender for the development of 100 MW of grid-connected canal top solar photovoltaic (PV) projects under public private partnership (PPP) model.

The bid-submission deadline is June 19, 2018.

This is an engineering procurement construction (EPC) tender and the scope of work includes the installation, commissioning, grid synchronization, operation, and maintenance of the grid-connected canal top solar PV projects.

Out of the tendered capacity, 50 MW of canal top solar PV projects will be developed on Narainpur Pump Canal, located in the district of Mirzapur, another 30 MW on Augasi Pump Canal, in Banda district, and 20 MW on Lower Ganga Canal (LGC) and Parallel lower Ganga canal (PLGC), which lie in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandsahar district.

By March 10, 2017, solar canal bank and canal top projects aggregating 24 MW had been commissioned in India.

The canal bank and canal top solar project program was launched in financial year 2014-15. Under this program, solar projects have been commissioned in eight different states (50 MW – canal banks and 50 MW – canal tops), including Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Project capacities range from a minimum of 1 MW to a maximum of 10 MW.

The MNRE is providing a subsidy of ₹30 million (~$0.45 million)/MW of installed capacity for canal bank projects and a subsidy of ₹1.5 million (~$0.22 million)/MW of installed capacity for canal top projects.

Image credit: Flickr