After Cancelling Tender Earlier, Odisha Again Issues Bid For Solar Boats

In a recent development, the Odisha government again issued a tender with an aim to convert the polluting boats at Chilika lake with solar and electric boats. Chilika lake in Odisha is one of the global Ramsar sites and a major tourist attraction in eastern India. The lake, touted as Asia’s largest saltwater lagoon, is spread in three districts of the state.

The Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) has now issued a tender seeking bidders who can help in the retrofitting of boats run on petrol and diesel and convert them either to solar boats or electric boats. This comes after the earlier issued tender by the agency for the same was cancelled by OREDA due to some reasons.

The state nodal agency plans to retrofit 28 tourist boats and 100 fishing boats to go for solar boats or electric boats. It has also asked the bidders to ensure the operations and maintenance of these retrofitted boats for the initial two years after the award of the projects.

“This Scope of Work shall be for the purpose of selection of contractor(s) for Design, Engineering, retrofitting and deployment of the existing diesel/petrol powered 28 nos. of tourist boats (FRP or Wooden or Both) and 100 nos. of fishing boats (FRP or Wooden or Both) for conversion into solar/electric (zero emission) powered boats along with Comprehensive Maintenance for Two (02) years at various places of the Chilika Lake, Odisha,” the OREDA tender document read. 

The state government agency said that the successful bidders will undertake the exercise as per the norms and technical specifications of Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and other concerned authorities.  

OREDA also has put the onus of taking care of the charging of these electric boats on the bidders. “The Successful Bidder shall provide the onshore charging station/infrastructure for charging of boats near the harbours as per Ministry of Power/CERC guidelines for the EV charging. The Successful Bidder shall ensure that the remotely monitored BMS (battery management system) is provided,” the tender read.  The last date to apply for the tender is July 18, 2024.