KMF Invites Proposals for 100 MW Solar Project in Open Access Group Captive Mode

Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producer’s Limited (KMF) has invited proposals to provide project management consultancy services to assist the federation in setting up an approximately 100 MW group captive open access solar power project.

The last date for submitting the online bid is October 4, 2022, and the bids will be opened on October 7, 2022.

The federation plans to work with a private solar project developer to create a special purpose vehicle (SPV) that will design, build, install, sync, run, maintain, transfer, or take over a 100 MW solar power facility on a group captive open access basis. To cover the majority of the federation’s and its member milk unions’ electricity demands, KMF (Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producer’s Limited) wants to purchase electricity from renewable sources through open access in Karnataka.

The initiative would be acceptable to the federation and its affiliated milk unions provided that it can result in savings of at least 30%. The project’s capacity may change. The KMF will enter into a 42-month contract with the winning bidder. The awarded bidder will have to submit Rs. 450,000 as an earnest money deposit. The amount that must be provided by the chosen bidders as a performance bank guarantee was not specified in the tender document. A bankable full project report and a monthly report on the SPV’s development must be submitted by the consultant. The consultant will be in charge of managing the overall coordination of the Solar Group Captive implementation between the Federation and the SPV.

The project management consultants will be employed by the federation for the whole 18-month construction period as well as two billing cycles totaling additional 24 months.  

By the 2013 Companies Act, bidders must also have drafted an article of association and a memorandum of association for a Karnataka government undertaking or any cooperative society. A minimum average annual income of 40 lakhs in any two of the previous five fiscal years is required of bidders.

Bidders can view/download this KMF (Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producer’s Limited) 100 MW Solar open-access plant tender documents and technical specifications here.

The tender conditions are interesting, in so far as they seem to indicate a clear focus on recovering the investment made in the solar plant within 42 months, for all practical purposes. That might seem shortsighted to many, but it also indicates a distrust of the proposals made so far perhaps, or even hearsay of poor outcomes for other users. Irrespective, for potential bidders, it is yet another opportunity to make a difference at scale that if successful, will find them many more followers.