South Eastern Railway has floated bids for empanelment of agencies to implement rooftop solar projects totaling 2.3447 MW in Odisha and 1.4738 MW in Jharkhand. According to the tender guidelines, the developers must provide comprehensive operation and maintenance services for a period of 25 years.
In addition, bidders must submit Rs 1.07 million per MW as an earnest money deposit. Within 30 days of signing the power purchase agreement (PPA), the selected bidders must submit a performance security of 1.6 million per MW to zonal railways. The projects will be developed in ranges with two capacities. First, projects having greater than 10 kW and up to 100 kW. Second, projects with more than 100 kW and up to 500 kW.
Following completion, the empanelment may be extended for another year based on agency performance and Zonal Railways requests. The generated solar power will only be used by zonal railways through the net metering system for their respective zones. The project must be completed within 240 days of the work order being received. The bid submission deadline is May 10, 2023.
Recently, in January 2023, Eastern Railways issued a request for proposals to install 1.9 MW of grid-connected rooftop solar systems across multiple sites in West Bengal’s Sealdah division. The scope of work entails conducting a survey, designing, fabricating, supplying, installing, testing, and commissioning 38 units of 50 kW grid-connected rooftop solar systems for three-phase 50 kW power with voltage ranging from 200V to 1,000V.
