Touted to be the largest coal mining company in the world, Coal India Limited (CIL) has sought bids from EPC service providers for a 100 MW AC grid connected solar PV facility in Gujarat.
The state-owned coal miner won this capacity under a 500 MW competitive procurement round conducted by the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) in March 2021 offering the winning bid of INR 2.20 per kWh (see INR 2.20/kWh L1 Bid For GUVNL's 500 MW Solar Auction).
CIL has now issued a tender to select EPC-cum-O&M contractor to build this capacity. It has specified that successful bidder needs to quote for the entire 100 MW, although it can be realized across multiple locations with a minimum project capacity of 25 MW.
Broad scope of work comprises acquisition and handover of land, design, engineering, construction, commissioning and O&M for 5 years, along with providing evacuation infrastructure. Only CIL empaneled vendors will be able to participate in the auction.
According to the tender notice issued, CIL will be accepting bid submissions till April 16, 2021. Documents with tender no. CIL/CV/2021/NIT/4810 are available on CIL's e-procurement website https://coalindiatenders.nic.in/nicgep/app.
CIL is diversifying its power generation portfolio to include and expand renewable energy targeting to reach 3 GW of solar PV power project capacity by 2024 as it chase a net zero target for itself (see 3 GW Solar Power Plans Unveiled By Coal India Ltd). To realize this, as per its current plan CIL is exploring development of solar PV projects by itself and its subsidiaries on its own land or other suitable land in India, as well as through the development of large scale solar PV projects to be awarded competitively or developed in solar parks or bilaterally identified projects, among others.
In February 2021, the company said it will be entering solar manufacturing value chain through wholly owned subsidiaries (see India PV News Snippets: CIL, EESL, BHEL, IR, APGCL).