The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has issued three different Request for Proposals (RfPs) for the procurement of a total of 3.7 MW of solar power through open access for the airports at Raipur, Coimbatore, and Aurangabad.

The breakup of bids – 1.5 MW for Raipur Airport, 1 MW for Coimbatore Airport, and 1.20 MW for Aurangabad Airport.

The last date for the submission of bids for all three tenders is November 18, 2019.

Interested bidders need to deposit ₹500,000 (~$7,035) as bid security. The bidding process will be based on tariff-based competitive bidding for the procurement of solar power through open access. The RfP also states that the bidders need to supply 1.577 million units (MUs) of contracted energy for ten years and a minimum of 6% of the annual contracted energy, in any month of the year during the contract period.

In the case where the actual energy supplied is less than 6%, the seller has to pay a penalty of 25% of the quoted tariff as well as an adjustment on account of revision of intra-state open access charges.

According to the AAI, the successful bidder is required to commence supply of power from April 1, 2020, following the provisions of the PPA.

The other requirements to bid for the tender is that the bidder should have installed and commissioned at least 1 MW of grid-connected solar project(s) in the last five years, at least six months before the bid opening date.

According to the AAI, no bidder should submit more than one bid for the projects. The net worth of the bidder should be equal to at least ₹10 million (~$140,786) in the preceding financial year (FY).

The AAI, which comes under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, is working on the use of sustainable solar power to fuel operations at various facilities across the country.

In September 2019, the AAI announced tender for a 100 kW grid-connected rooftop solar project to be installed at Pune Airport’s terminal building.  In the same month, it also issued a tender for 1 MW of grid-connected solar projects at Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad.

The club of solar-powered airports in South India includes Bengaluru, Cochin, Trivandrum, Hyderabad, Chennai, Trichy, Calicut, and Vijayawada and Tirupati.

Image credit: MassDOT – Rooftop Solar at Northampton Airport, Public Domain

Anjana is a news editor at Mercom India. Before joining Mercom, she held roles of senior editor, district correspondent, and sub-editor for The Times of India, Biospectrum and The Sunday Guardian. Before that, she worked at the Deccan Herald and the Asianlite as chief sub-editor and news editor. She has also contributed to The Quint, Hindustan Times, The New Indian Express, Reader’s Digest (UK edition), IndiaSe (Singapore-based magazine) and Asiaville. Anjana holds a Master’s degree in Geography from North Bengal University, and a diploma in mass communication and journalism from Guru Ghasidas University, Bhopal.