SOLAR PV TENDERS UPDATE

This is an overview on solar tender information that TaiyangNews has published as part of stories on its website over the course of the past two weeks. For more information on a tender listed below, click on the source to directly access the tender documents (if available).

ASIA

Indian Utility Tender For ISTS-Connected Wind-Solar Hybrid Power Projects Under Tranche-VI: India’s largest state-owned utility NTPC Limited has issued a competitive solicitation call for hybrid power project developers for 1 GW wind-solar power supply with inter-state transmission system (ISTS) connectivity, under tranche VI.?Projects can be located anywhere in India on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis. Winners will be selected via a reverse auction which will be intimated at a later date. The tender is open to both national and international firms to offer technical and financial bids.??The tender with NIT no. NTPC/RE-CS/2023-24/Hybrid/BOO-17 was launched on March 15, 2024. The last date to submit bids is April 16, 2024, according to the tender call.?For complete story, click here.

Sri Lankan Utility Seeks Bidders For 165 MW Solar Capacity: The state-owned utility of Sri Lanka, Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has invited proposals for the development of 165 MW AC solar PV capacity with a 20-year operational life.?A single project can have an installed capacity of 1 MW AC to 5 MW AC, according to the request for proposals (RFP) documents. Installed projects need to be grid-connected to nearby substations. Available capacity is indicated for each grid substation in the tender call.?

Broad scope of work for the project developers is to design, finance, procure, construct, commission and operate and maintain the plants. Procuring land is the responsibility of the winning bidder as the CEB expects around 3 acres or 1.21 hectares of land for a 1 MW AC solar plant.?CEB will enter into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the winners for a 20-year duration from the date of commencement of commercial operations.?It will admit proposals to this tender call issued on February 2, 2024 till May 2, 2024.?For complete story, click here.

Maldives Launches Tender For 12.5 MW Solar Power Project: The Ministry of Finance in the Maldives has opened a competitive solicitation process for the Maldives Solar Power Project (SPP), backed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The latter claims that the 12.5 MW facility will be the country’s largest private sector led project in the energy sector in terms of capacity and investments.?This grid-tied capacity is planned to be installed in select islands of the country on a design, build, finance, own, operate, maintain and transfer basis.?

The call is open to both national and international bidders to participate in this auction round that complements the Accelerating Sustainable System Development Using Renewable Energy (ASSURE) project.?Under the ASSURE project, the bank has committed loan and grant agreements of up to $50.5 million to expand renewable energy generation and distribution in the island nation. It aims to specifically install grid-scale energy storage, energy management systems and distribution grid upgrades in 20 outer islands. Emerging technologies such as offshore floating solar are also part of the plan.?

Interested bidders will need to register with the ministry by July 2, 2024. They will then need to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to obtain access to the online data room (ODR) to access bidding documents.?Launched on March 5, 2024, the tender will be open for submissions till July 4, 2024. A pre-bid meeting will be held on March 27, 2024, according to the call issued.?

EUROPE

Italian Railway Operator’s €64 Million Tender To Seek 100 GWh Green Energy Annually: Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) that manages the Italian railway infrastructure has launched a tender worth €64 million ($69 million) to secure around 100 GWh of annual renewable energy supply.?This clean energy will need to come with a green certification that guarantees its origin from renewable energy sources. RFI says it will use the same to power its offices, technology rooms, stations and other fixed installations throughout the national territory.?Winning offers will be selected on the basis of lowest tariff offered. RFI says the tender notice is published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The tender is part of the company’s broader framework of strategies to decarbonize its electricity consumption. It will also increase its energy independence. Currently, it mainly uses diesel fuel, natural gas and district heating, petrol, LPG to power its railway services.?RFI is among the largest electricity users in Italy having purchased about 6.1 TWh in 2022.?It launched the call on March 15, 2024. It will accept bids till April 19, 2024, and open the bids on April 22, 2024. Details are available on RFI’s procurement website with the code folder_3349.??

Bulgaria Launches Renewables Energy & Storage Tenders: The Ministry of Energy in Bulgaria has launched 2 separate calls to build new renewable energy capacity and energy storage facilities in the country with more than BGN 535 million ($298 million) budget.?The BG-RRP-4.032 tender will support new solar and/or wind power projects with co-located energy storage facilities. A budget of BGN 107.57 million ($60 million) has been allocated to aid the construction of at least 200 MW wind and solar capacity along with 100 MW of storage. Projects can have an installed capacity of 200 kW to 2 MW.?

The maximum grant available for a single project will cover up to 50% of the eligible costs but it cannot exceed BGN 1.08 million ($0.60 million) for 1 MW of installed energy storage capacity. The other procurement call BG-RRP-4.033 will also support new solar and/or wind energy projects with co-located storage facilities with an installed capacity of more than 200 kW. The total budget for this round is BGN 427.5 million ($238 million) to aid the development of a minimum 940 MW renewable energy and 200 MW storage capacity.?

Eligible applicants for both these tenders can come from all sectors of the economy, barring those from agriculture, forestry and fisheries.??The tenders have been issued under the country’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan through which it targets to install 1.425 GW new renewable energy and 350 MW energy storage capacity to the national grid.?Launched on March 14, 2024, the last date for bid submission for these tenders is June 12, 2024.?

NORTH AMERICA

US Issues RFP For CdTe Technology Development: The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the US has launched a new solicitation round to seek proposals for small projects to accelerate cadmium telluride (CdTe) technology development. The government sees CdTe as an opportunity to enhance the country’s competitiveness in solar PV manufacturing.?

Projects will be selected by the CdTe Accelerator Consortium (CTAC) comprising the University of Toledo, First Solar, Colorado State University, Toledo Solar and Sivavnanthan Laboratories. Both First Solar and Toledo Solar are leading CdTe module manufacturers in the US.?

For the latest round, NREL aims to select between 4 and 10 awards with a single project standing to win anywhere between $75,000 and $150,000/year. The maximum funding for this round will not exceed $2 million out of the $20 million earmarked by the US Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) to speed up solar deployment and lower costs.?

Launched on March 18, 2024, the solicitation round with notice ID RFX-2024-10015 will remain open to bidders till April 29, 2024. Further details are available on the US government General Services Administration website.?

For complete story, click here.