The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has received a bid of Rs 53,651 for 1 kW of rooftop solar, which is the lowest discovered bid in response to a tender floated by the board in February 2021. The tender was for empanelling contractors providing EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services for 200 MW of grid-connected residential rooftop solar systems in Kerala. The projects will be developed under six different categories: Part A (Up to 1 kW), Part B (1 to 2 kW), Part C (2 to 3 kW), Part D (3 to 10 kW), Part E (10 to 100 kW), and Part F (100 to 500 kW) categories. For these categories, the lowest bids were Rs 53,651 per kW, Rs 49,000 per kW, Rs 48,000 per kW Rs 48,949 per kW, Rs 43,499 per kW andRs 39,900 per kW, respectively.
Seven candidates were empaneled for setting up rooftop solar systems in the range of 1kW to 500 kW. These include Tata Power Solar System, Power One Micro Systems, Druidic Energy, Ishaan Solar Power, Bingas Electrical Electronics and Solar System, Kondass Automation, and BSS Solar.The projects will be developed under Kerala’s ‘Soura Subsidy Program’ which plans to add 1,000 MW of solar projects by 2022. The project is in line with the Phase II Subsidy Program of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.As per MNRE’s guidelines, central financial assistance (CFA) of 40% on the benchmark cost will be provided for systems up to 3 kW. For systems above 3 kW and up to 10 kW, a CFA of 40% will be applicable for only the first 3 kW capacity, and for others, it will be 20%.