MNRE Extends EoI Submission Date for Evaluating Components of PM KUSUM Scheme till May 20

Amidst the series of extensions of deadlines for various schemes, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has now extended the time for submission of Expression of Interest (EOI) for evaluation of Component-A and Component-C of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evem Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) Scheme till May 20, 2020.

The Ministry has issued a letter informing all reputed consultants and consulting firms about extension in the deadline for submission of EOI to undertake an evaluation of Component-A and Component-C of PM KUSUM scheme, which was earlier issued on April 16, 2020, with the deadline of May 08, 2020.

MNRE has cited the reason for the extension that “in view of the prevailing situation and lockdown in many parts of the country due to Covid-19 pandemic, it has been decided to provide an extension in time for submission of EoIs. Interested parties may now submit EoIs by 1800 hours on May 20, 2020.”

However, it further suggested bidders that “in case the lockdown is further extended making it difficult for the interested parties to submit EoIs along with the required documents in physical copies, soft copies of the EoI and the documents may be sent on email address [email protected].”

“Due care shall be taken by interested parties not to mention any confidential information not required at this stage. Inclusion of such information may lead to rejection of EoI of the concerned party,” it added.

Earlier, the government had invited industry stakeholders to evaluate the components A & C of the PM-KUSUM scheme. The motive behind the study was to evaluate the implementation of both Components A and C of the scheme via collecting information from state implementing agencies, beneficiaries, Discoms and other stakeholders, assess the performance of these components for different stakeholders and recommend for further scale-up along with required modifications in the implementation process of these components of the scheme.

This scheme was launched during the month of March last year and has three components:

• Component-A: Installation of 10 GW of renewable energy power plants of individual plant capacity up to 2 MW on barren and fallow land.
• Component-B: Installation of 17.5 lakh standalone solar pumps of capacity up to 7.5 HP.
• Component-C: Solarization of 10 lakh existing grid-connected agricultural pumps of pump capacity up to 7.5 HP.

Both, components A and C have been implemented in pilot mode during 2019-20 with target of 1 GW capacity and 1 lakh solarizations respectively.

Now, as per approval of the scheme, an evaluation of Component A and C has to be conducted before scale-up of the scheme for targeted capacities of 10 GW of grid-connected renewable power and 10 lakh solarizations of existing pumps, the Ministry said in a statement.

For more information about submitting EoI click here.