The Uttarakhand Project Development and Construction Corporation Limited (UPDCC) has invited fresh bids for 40 MW of grid-connected solar power projects.

The projects are to be installed near Haripura and Tumaria reservoirs in Udhamsingh Nagar of Uttarakhand. The capacity of the solar power project in line with the current assessment is 27 MW at the Haripura reservoir and 13 MW at the Tumaria reservoir.

The last date for the submission of bids is September 07, 2020, and the pre-bid will take place on August 20, 2020.

Interested bidders will have to submit an amount of ₹500,000 (~$6,690) as the earnest money deposit (EMD), and the time of completion of work has been set as one year.

This is a retender of the capacity that was floated in January last year for the installation of projects under build, own, and operate (BOO) model. The tender added that the land for the projects would be provided free of cost.

Then in May 2019, the Uttarakhand Irrigation Department had extended the last date for the submission of bids for the tender.

Speaking to Mercom, an official from UPDCC, said, “The tender was floated last year. We got responses from the bidders, but due to the COVID-19 situation,we were not able to implement it. So, we have retendered it. The ceiling tariff has also been revised.”

For this tender, the quoted tariff should not be more than ₹3.86 (~$0.05)/kWh. Earlier, the ceiling tariff was set at ₹4.29/kWh (~$0.06)/kWh. net worth of the bidder should at least ₹15 million (~$200,713)/MW.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, Uttarakhand currently has ~241 MW of solar projects in operation.

A few months ago, the Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission issued an order stating that the benchmark capital cost and levelized generic tariff, issued in June 2019, will continue to be applicable until September 30, 2020. Referring to the government’s decision to further extend the lockdown period with certain relaxations, the Commission stated that the commercial activities concerning the development of solar energy-based power projects might take some time to get normal.