The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has extended the bid submission date of its 1 GW solar tender.

The tender was issued in October 2019.

The revised date for bid submission is now December 3, 2019, while the opening date of techno-commercial bids has been scheduled for December 4, 2019. Earlier, the deadline for the submission of bids was November 18, 2019, as reported by Mercom previously.

According to the NTPC, for 50 MW project, the amount of bid security to be deposited is ₹20 million (~$278,705) and ₹50 million (~$696,762) for projects in the range of 60 MW to 110 MW. Bidders who want to bid for projects between 120 MW to 220 MW, will have to pay ₹100 million (~$1.4 million). A bid security of ₹200 million (~$2.8 million) will be required for projects between 230 MW to 300 MW.

Interested bidders can bid for a minimum of 50 MW and in multiples of 10 MW. A single bidder can bid for a maximum capacity of 300 MW.

Further, the solar rooftop or floating solar projects, which are grid-connected, should also be considered eligible for qualification requirement purposes.

In recent months, NTPC, a government-owned entity, has floated several tenders for the development of solar projects across the country.

Recently, the NTPC had extended the bid submission deadline for 1,000 MW of solar projects under the Central Public Sector Undertaking Program Phase II, Tranche-1.

Before this, the company had to extend the bid submission deadline for its 1.2 GW solar tender in western India after an upper tariff cap set by the NTPC failed to attract bidders.

Then last month, TBEA, a Chinese manufacturer of power transformers and other electrical equipment, bagged 300 MW of solar projects in the 1.2 GW auction conducted by the NTPC.

In August 2019, Mercom had reported that the NTPC had issued a tender to set up 1.2 GW of the interstate transmission system (ISTS)-connected solar projects.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, NTPC has 874 MW of commissioned solar projects in the country.

Image credit: Sungrow

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.