UPNEDA Moves To Initiate 106 MW Solar Plants Under PM KUSUM

The Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA) has issued a tender inviting bids for 106 MW of solar plants under the PM KUSUM scheme. The scheme, while primarily focused on solar pumps initially, was expanded later to include solar plants too.

The tender invites bids for plant sizes ranging from 0.5 MW /1 MW/ 1.5 MW / 2 MW (AC) capacity on Barren/uncultivable or agriculture land, Pasturelands and Marshlands of farmers falling within a radius of 5 KM from selected 33/11 KV substations.

The tariff based competitive bidding process requires bidders to participate in the Request for Selection (RfS) for installation of Grid Connected Solar Photovoltaic Power Projects on Build-Own- operate (B-O-O) basis under the scheme.

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With 24 substations and their neighbouring areas on offer, the tender expressly forbids a single bidder for bidding beyond 2 MW.

The last date for submitting bids is June 15, with an EMD requirement of Rs 5000 per MW plus GST. (Rs 5900 per MW).

A firm land lease agreement with a farer of group of farmers /farmer bodies is a pre-requisite, with the state discom taking no responsibility for arranging land or enforcing such agreement.

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The commissioning /scheduled date for start of the project has been set at 12 months from the date of issue of letter of allotment to a successful bidder.

The UPNEDA move comes at an interesting time, with the state still under grave threat of seeing a massive impact from the second wave of corona pandemic. To that extent, one is not really certain to that extent  key project deadlines will be met, and with bidding effectively limited to smaller firms, one wonders about their ability to lobby effectively in case of issues faced.

On the other hand, the state has been a laggard with regards to Solar PV projects and capacity, and these small projects will be a good testing ground to see potential and interest.

Details of the tender are available at the UPNEDA website.