KSEB Tender For 11 MW Solar Across 21 Kerala Locations

The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has invited EPC contractors to bid and develop solar projects totaling 11 MW of ground-mounted, grid-connected solar plants across the state. The projects are  part of the Component A of the the  PM-KUSUM scheme, which envisages ground mounted solar projects upto 2 MW in size.

KSEB has already identified 21 locations across the state with a useable land area of 194,018 square meters for these proposed projects. The total project cost has been estimated at Rs 50 crores. Wining bidders will be responsible for O&M for 5 years.

The last date to submit the bids is May 26, 2022.

Bid processing fee has been set at Rs 17,700 with earnest money deposit (EMD) of Rs 500,000. Winning bidders must pay a performance bank guarantee (PBG) equivalent to 3% of the total contract value within 15 days from the date of issue of the Letter of Award (LoA) of work.

Eligibility conditions for bidders includes successful installation of  grid-connected solar power plants of a minimum 2 MW aggregate capacity in the last five years. Out of this, at least one project must be of 1 MW or more capacity operating successfully for a minimum of six months as of this tender’s issue date.

Kerala has been pushing hard to catch up with its southern neighbours on the solar front, with a concerted push for rooftop solar and other projects under the PM KUSUM scheme. Large utility scale parks are an issue due to land availability restrictions, but the state, a heavy power importer at over 50% of its requirements, needs to push far more aggressively for solar and wind, considering its high dependence on Hydel power, when it comes to generation within the state. The state has had to curtail power consumption through power cuts in recent months, faced with a shortfall of power availability, as well as high cost of power at exchanges.

The state does hope to see some commissionings on both the solar and wind energy front, with agreements signed up between 2019- 2021 end set to bring in some projects online by this year end.

Projects under the PM KUSUM tender reported above are expected to be brought online within 12 months after award date.