The Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited (GSECL) has announced a tender to seek a consultant for a 1.5 GW floating solar park in the state’s Tapi district with details of the location to be shared with the successful bidder only.

Selected consultant will be required to prepare a feasibility study and a detailed project report (DPR) for the project.

To be eligible, the consultant needs to have successfully completed similar work for floating solar projects with a cumulative capacity of 100 MW in India in the last 7 years. The consultant will be expected to conduct site visit, identify the logistic, market and financial requirements, conduct water quality checks and also check for power interconnection facilities for the plant’s grid connection.

Assessing the suitability of the site to host a floating PV system with a review of the local climatic condition also forms part of the job description.

The DPR should include the present and future market trend of PV modules and other equipment with a brief list of major suppliers.

Launched on May 12, 2023, bids can be submitted latest by June 1, 2023 as per the tender call.  

In October 2022, a campus startup Vatsaa Energy was consulted by GSECL to set up floating solar power plants to help the utility in its target to produce 1.5 GW solar power by 2025-end, according to local media (see India PV News Snippets).

Currently, GSECL says it has a total installed power generation capacity of 7.127 GW from coal, lignite, gas, hydro, solar and wind power plants.