SECI Re-issues Tender for 100 MW Floating Solar at Getalsud Dam, Ranchi

SECI has invited bids for the Design, Engineering, Supply, Construction, Erection, Testing & Commissioning of 100 MW (AC) floating solar PV project having 10 years plant O&M at Getalsud Dam, Ranchi, Jharkhand. It’s a global tender.

The SECI tender says that the last date for bid submission has been kept on May 2, 2023 and the opening of Techno-Commercial Bids will happen on the same day. The pre bid meeting will take place on March 28, 2023.

SECI tender held that all bids must be accompanied by a bid security of the Rs 6 crores or $1 million.

Among financial qualifications in the tender, a bidder must have minimum average annual turnover of Rs 228 Crores or $27 Million, calculated as total certified payments received for contracts in progress or completed within the last three years.

The bidder must demonstrate access to, or availability of, financial resources such as liquid assets & lines of credit, other than any contractual advance payments to meet the following cash-flow requirement of Rs 95 Crores or $ 11 million.

The SECI tender also demands experience in renewable energy under contracts in the role of contractor, subcontractor, or management contractor for at least the last three years starting Jan 1, 2018.

A bidder must have experience in EPC execution of ground mounted solar projects on Turnkey basis including Design, Supply, Installation and Commissioning of grid connected solar PV power plants of total cumulative capacity not less than 50 MW in last five years.

Moreover, SECI tender also demands a bidder to must have experience in EPC execution of ground mounted solar projects on Turnkey basis including design, supply, installation & commissioning of at least two grid connected solar PV power plant projects having an individual capacity of 10 MW or above in last five years from last date of bid submission.

This is not the first time that SECI has issued a tender for Getalsud floating solar project. The plan for floating solar at Getalsud Dam started as far back as 2019. A tender was issued by SECI in February 2022. In April, 2022, SECI extended the bids submission deadline by a month. As it couldn’t achieve the desired results, SECI cancelled the tender. SECI is hoping for better results this time around. While success has been seen in smaller floating solar projects, with NTPC even managing the 100 MW Ramagundam project, at large dam reservoirs, progress has been limited, due to may technical challenges. That means Rihand, Getulsud, Omkareshwar, all 100 MW plus floating projects are still stuck as developers find solutions to problems that have proved to be intractable so far.