REMCL Invites Bids for 210 MW Solar Projects on Vacant Railway Land

Railway Energy Management Company Limited (REMCL), a joint venture of the Indian Railways and RITES Limited (Rail India Technical And Engineering Services Limited, a railway PSU), has issued a new tender to develop 210 MW of grid-connected solar projects under the Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) category. The solar projects are to be developed on vacant railway land.

The work scope includes engineering, packing, unloading, installation, design, supply, transportation, storage, and commissioning of grid-connected solar projects under the DCR category on vacant railway land parcels on a turnkey basis, along with project maintenance for ten years.

The deadline for the submission of bids falls on October 21, 2021, and the bidding will open on the same date, said the tender document.

In order to participate in the bidding process, interested bidders must meet certain requirements. The bidder must have designed, supplied, erected, commissioned, and supervised the commissioning of at least one solar project of a minimum value of 35% of the offered capacity in MW to participate in the bidding process. The solar reference project must have successfully operated before the bid opening date for at least six years.

If the bidder proposes more than one package with different capacities, then the bidder must have implemented at least one solar project of at least 35% of the highest capacity among the offered package capacity.

The bidder must have implemented an industrial project either as a developer or as an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor in the last ten years in the area of power, steel, oil and gas, petrochemical, fertilizer, cement, coal mining, including coal handling plant and any other process industry of a value of Rs 38.5 million per MW of the proposed capacity, alternatively. The project must have been operationally successful for at least one year before the opening date of the bidding.

Also, the bidder must have implemented at least one electrical substation of 33 kV or above voltage, either as a developer or as an EPC contractor, consisting of equipment such as 33 kV or above voltage circuit breakers and power transformer, which must have been operationally successful before the opening date of the bid for at least one year.

Lastly, during the last three financial years prior to the bid opening date, the bidder’s annual turnover should have been Rs 38.5 million/MW on average. In order to qualify as a bidder, the bidder’s net worth should not be less than 100% of its paid-up share capital on the last day of the previous financial year.

In May this year, REMCL invited bids to develop a 15 MW solar project with a 7 MW/14 MWh battery energy storage system on railway land at Butibori in Nagpur. Later, in June, the company invited bids for setting up projects totaling 740 MW ground-mount solar project on vacant lands.