Haryana opens 20MW solar tender

Haryana Power Generation Corporation (HPGCL) has issued a tender for a 20MW grid-connected solar project at an old ash dyke, Faridabad, in the North Indian state of Haryana.

The scope of the contract includes design, engineering, procurement and supply, construction, commissioning of the plant, as well as O&M for five years, which is extendable for another five years.

A pre-bid meeting will be held on 8 November and the deadline for submissions is 26 November. To be eligible, bidders must have installed a solar plant with a capacity of 5MW or more since 2012.

HPGCL has an installed power generation capacity of 2,792.4MW, mainly comprised of thermal, hydro and solar power stations. This includes the 920MW Panipat thermal power station, the 600MW Deenbandhu Chhottu Ram thermal power station, the 1.2GW Rajiv Gandhi thermal plant, the 62.4MW Hydel project at Western Yamuna Canal, and a 10MW PV plant at Panipat. The distribution company has been looking at using land at old thermal power stations for solar power since 2016.

Consultancy firm Bridge to India's 'Solar Navigator' shows that Haryana, a highly agricultural state, has just 0.1GW of solar PV installations spread across 19 projects to date.

Back in the summer, Indian firm Avaada Power, headed by solar veteran Vineet Mittal, said it planned to build 2GW of open access PV plants in India, with Haryana as one of its targeted states.