Odisha Issues Bid To Convert Diesel/Petrol Boats To Solar Boats At Chilika

Odisha To Begin Solarisation of Fishing, Tourist Boats in Chilika. Photo: Pexels

Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA), the state nodal renewable agency of Odisha issued a tender to further boost solar boats at Chilika Lake in the state. The latest tender sought solar developers to take care of the design, engineering and retrofitting of the existing diesel and petrol-powered 28 tourist boats and 100 fishing boats. With the retrofitting, OREDA plans to convert them into solar boats. The bid also mandated the solar developers to offer two years of maintenance.  

The tender aims to develop an understanding of the technical, operational, and maintenance aspects of the conversion of fossil fuel-powered boats to electric or solar boats through a consultative process, read the tender issued by OREDA. The tender also sought participants for designing, engineering, installing, testing, and commissioning of retrofitting boats with electric propulsion systems in Chilika. As per the latest notice issued by OREDA, a tentative date and time for the opening of the technical bid will be intimated later.

According to the tender, the bidder will be responsible for doing the survey and collecting data regarding the existing operational boats under the Odisha Tourism Development Centre (OTDC), Chilika Development Authority (CDA) and Fishing boats. The bidder will also have to provide the design specifications for retrofitting of solar-powered electric propulsion system along with charging infrastructure to run the existing boats as per the required operational duration and speed. Along with that, the bidder will also have to provide the on-shore charging station and infrastructure for charging boats. With that, the bidder will also have to carry out the installation of all equipment as per the design.

Examples from other states 

India’s first solar ferry, ADITYA, was inaugurated in Kerala in 2017. The solar vessel with 75 passenger capacity has been playing service successfully covering the Vaikom – Thavanakadavu route. Last year, Barracuda, said to be India’s fastest solar-electric boat, was launched at the yard Navalt Solar and Electric Boats, located off Aroor in Alappuzha.

In India, Kerala has already begun the process of introducing electric boats in its backwaters. The state government has planned to convert 50 percent of the total boats into solar boats.