Under the Pradhan Mantri-Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) program Component A, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) has requested bids for the purchase of 300 MW of solar electricity from decentralized solar installations with capacities ranging from 500 kW to 2 MW.
The proposals must be submitted online by January 9, 2023.
Bidders will be required to submit an earnest money deposit of Rs. 100,000/MW. Within 30 days of receiving the letter of award, the winning bidder must provide a performance bank guarantee for Rs. 500,000/MW.
According to the tender document, the minimum and maximum individual project capacities to be developed are 500 kW and 2 MW, respectively, and MSEDCL has set a maximum tariff of Rs. 3.30/kWh.
With the chosen bidders, MSEDCL will enter into a power purchase agreement (PPA) lasting 25 years from the project’s date of commercial operation.
The solar projects will be built within a 5-kilometer radius of the substations to minimize the high cost of transmission lines and reduce transmission losses.
The winning bidder will be in charge of obtaining grid connectivity with MSEDCL, and will also be responsible for the energy accounting infrastructure and power transmission up to the interconnection point.
To reduce the technology risk and ensure that the projects are timely completed, the tender’s terms stipulate that only commercially established and functional technologies may be used.
According to MSEDCL, the declared capacity utilization factor (CUF) over a year should never be less than 15%.
If the project is developed on leased land, the bidder’s net worth must not be less than Rs. 10 million/MW of the quoted capacity.
A minimum yearly turnover of Rs. 2.5 million/MW of the specified capacity should have been achieved by bidders during the previous fiscal year.
However, bidders are not required to meet the financial eligibility requirement and may participate as individuals or groups of farmers, panchayats, cooperatives, water user organizations, or farmer-producer organizations setting up the project on their lands.
They should have a letter of in-principle approval from financing institutions committing a line of credit worth at least Rs. 1.25 million/MW of the stated capacity to help them fulfill their working capital needs.
