Deoghar Airport To Go With 330 KW Solar Plant, As AAI Calls For Bids

India’s new greenfield airports continue to go for renewable energy in a big way. The latest to join the list is the upcoming Deoghar airport in Jharkhand state. Deoghar city is a major pilgrimage centre, known for the Baba Baidyanath Dham .

The Airports Authority of India Limited, which has set up and will be running the airport,  has invited bids to set up a 330 kWp grid-connected solar power system at the airport. LIke most of its other airports, it has proposed to have a solar rooftop, and a carport for the solar facilities. The last date for bids is December 1.

Eligibility conditions include satisfactory completion of similar work for three projects of around Rs 69 lakh each, or two projects of Rs 87 lakh each, or one project of Rs1.4 crore in the past seven years.

Further, the bidder should have a minimum annualized financial turnover of Rs 52 lakh against projects executed in the past three years, and a minimum net worth of Rs 26 lakh. The bidders will also have to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 3.5 lakhs.

The authority has estimated the project cost at Rs 1.73 crore, with project completion within 4 months from allotment to the winner of the bid.

The scope of work will include design, engineering, supply, transportation, loading/unloading, storage, installation, testing and commissioning of the plant and interconnection to the AAI’s 415V LT panel of the substation as required.

With close to 100 new airports planned by 2024, and a relatively standardised design for each of them, it is technically much more easier to plan for solar plants at these new airports. However, that hasn’t prevented legacy airports, including those in the key metro cities, to opt for solar plants of various sizes too.  Cochin airport is of course the standout, with its 40 MW capacity, but cumulative capaciy across airports is already close too 80 mw, spread over almost 40 airports, as of Sep 2020. A further 44 MW is under construction or being bid out.

Earlier this month, the AAI had also signed an MOU with an NTPC subsidiary, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam(NVVN) for solar plants at its airports in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.