Maharashtra Temple Trust Releases 250 MW Solar Tender

Back in May 2023, the temple trust of the Tulja Bhavani Temple located in Maharashtra had made known its decision to establish a solar project on an area of 617 acres on Malumbra Village and 532 acres in Masla Village.

The committee of the temple trust had given its nod for the 250 MW solar project as proposed by MAHAGENCO (Maharashtra State Power Generation Company). As per the report of the committee, MAHAGENCO had come up with a tariff proposal of INR 2 per unit. Further, the temple committee had revealed that it would assign a technical advisor to the project. A fund of INR 2 crore was also allocated for the same.

Expectedly, the tender for 250 MW of capacity has been released now on the said two districts of Maharashtra. The tender, which seeks consultancy services for the project, necessitates an Earnest Money Deposit of INR 100,000. The work undertaken by the successful bidder must be completed within a period of six months.

The scope of work includes assessing the site for land locations, land assessment among other responsibilities. The last date to submit bids is November 28, 2023. Bids open two days later on November 30, 2023.

Temple trusts & solar technology adoption are not new to India. Temples seem to be recognizing the advantages of setting up renewable projects. Last year, the world renowned Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) or ‘Tirupati Temple’ situated in Andhra Pradesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN) to commission solar photovoltaic power projects. In fact, as long back as 2017, the temple had signed up Vikram Solar for a 10 MW solar project. The ground-mounted solar project, spread over an area of 67 acres, offsets 15143t of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) a year.

About three days ago, Kurnool based Srisailam Devasthanam trust board approved its plan for the construction of two solar power plants, each one boasting a capacity of 0.50 MW with an estimated cost of INR 7 crore. Among other notable solar projects in temples of India are located in Sun Temple, Shore Temple. In another case of temple trust and solar, under the MNRE scheme, Odisha solarised its temple town of Konark and also solarised its Konark sun temple.

In another case of temple trust and solar, Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, Maharashtra is also in the process of setting up a 10 MW solar park, for which it had released a tender in 2019. Given its significant capacity, the 250 MW tender in Maharashtra sets a precedent for other temples to follow.