Coal India Limited (CIL) has floated a tender for shortlisting equity partners to set up a vertically integrated 4 GW solar ingot-wafer-cell-module manufacturing facility. The solar manufacturing facility will be implemented and operated by CIL in collaboration with the equity partner. CIL is in advanced negotiations with a number of Indian states about site selection and finalisation. The bid submission deadline is September 16, 2021.
As per the tender document, to be eligible, the bidder should have both solar cell and module manufacturing plants with a minimum production capacity of 100 MW per annum. This capacity may be either operational or under development in India. Also, the bidder must have solar projects in pipeline under the engineering, procurement, and construction or developer mode. Furthermore, the bidder should have the intent to start a polysilicon and ingot-wafer manufacturing company in India. In addition, the Indian government or any other government body should not have backlisted the bidder.
In December 2020, CIL’s board had given its consent to venture into the solar power and aluminium value chain by establishing integrated solar wafer manufacturing plant to boost the solar value chain. The company will also build an integrated aluminium complex, which will be a greenfield project run by Central Coalfields Limited, a subsidiary of CIL.
