TEDA Tenders for 50 MW Solar Rooftop Project in Tamil Nadu with Sept deadline

The Tamil Nadu Energy Development Authority has issued a tender for the selection of bidders for the installation of 50 MW of grid-connected rooftop solar systems in the state, the projects will be installed on government buildings and premises in the state. The tender is notable for the many specific conditions it has placed, be it for qualifying, or sourcing of panels, which has to be domestic. The tender also follows a quickening rate of solar rooftop tenders from government agencies, possibly after a gentle nudge from the MNRE, as the country is suddenly faced with a slowdown on large projects, and rooftop solar numbers have fallen especially behind schedule.

The capacity of each rooftop project in the TEDA tender shall be in the range of 1 kWp to 500 kWp for the identified locations of the concerned buildings. One GCRTS system may, however, comprise of several rooftop units. And each project will also include a Tamil Nadu Distribution and Generation Corporation (TANGEDCO) net metering facility as per existing policy.

The scope of work will include the designing, supply, installation, testing, commissioning, operation and maintenance of systems up to 25 years from the dates of commissioning of the projects. Besides, the successful bidders will also be responsible for identifying locations for the installation of the projects and getting them approved by the TEDA along with their tentative bids.

TEDA has fixed the maximum bid price at ₹ 4.79/kWh. A company will be eligible to submit bids only if they have an installed cumulative total solar PV capacity of not less than 50 MW in India during the financial years 2014-15 to 2018-19 and have operation and maintenance experience of at least 10 MW of solar PV system capacity in India. That would seem to rule out a number of small but active installers what have been set up in the past two years, a likely sore point.

Following the looming uncertainty in the solar market regarding the imposition of the safeguard duty, TEDA has specified that the solar PV modules used for the project will have to be manufactured in India. The remaining system components may be procured from any source.

The last date of bid submission is 24^th September 2018.