The West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency (WBREDA) has tendered 2 MW of grid-connected rooftop solar projects to be developed on customers’ premises in residential, institutional, and social sectors.

WBREDA will empanel vendors to execute these projects. The bid-submission deadline is December 27, 2018.

The grid-connected rooftop solar PV projects will be developed in two categories; Type A will have system size range of 5 kW to 10 kW and benchmark cost of ₹60 (~$0.858)/W, Type B will have system size range of 10 kW to 100 kW and benchmark cost of ₹55 (~$0.78)/W.

Moreover, a central Financial Assistance (CFA) from Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) will be provided at the rate of 30 percent of the accepted L1 price or the benchmark cost; whichever is lower.

For Type A projects, the bidder must have a local maintenance setup for at least last one year anywhere in West Bengal. For Type B projects, if the bidder does not have maintenance setup in West Bengal, they have to establish one within two months from the date of issuance of the Letter of Allotment.

A single bidder can bid for a maximum 100 kW for Type A project and 300 kW for Type B project.

After opening of the price bids, an offer will be given to all technically qualified bidders under each project category to match their price to L1 price under respective project category without permitting any deviation other than the quoted rate. The bidders, who will agree to accept the L1 price, will be empaneled.

According to WBREDA, Type A projects will have a cumulative capacity of 500 kW and Type B projects will have a cumulative capacity of 1,500 kW.

The project completion time will be 180 days from the date of issuance of allotment letter.

In June 2018, WBREDA retendered a 10 MW grid‑connected solar project to be developed in Bhajanghat in the state’s Nadia district. According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, West Bengal has an installed solar capacity of just 64 MW. The state also has approximately 46 MW of solar projects in the pipeline.