NHDC Limited, a joint venture of NHPC Ltd and government of Madhya Pradesh, seeks to empanel EPC contractors for balance-of-system (BOS) and module manufacturers for its solar projects. The empanelment shall be for a period of two years.
EPC installers can submit bids in two categories: projects up to 100 MW and projects above 100 MW.
To be eligible for projects up to 100 MW, the applicant should have either developed or provided EPC services for minimum 40 MWp of cumulative grid-connected solar power capacity, out of which at least one plant should have been minimum 10 MWp. The reference plant of 10 MWp or higher capacity must have been in successful operation for at least one year prior to the last date of application submission.
For projects above 100 MW, the minimum installed capacity requirement is 80 MWp, out of which at least one plant should have been minimum 20 MWp in capacity. The reference plant of 20 MWp or higher capacity must have been in successful operation for at least one year prior to the last date of application submission.
For module supply, the applicant should be the original PV module manufacturer with manufacturing capacity of minimum 1000 MW/annum. It should have manufactured and supplied minimum 130 MWp of cumulative PV module capacity using PV cells of any origin in any one financial year during the last seven years.
The supplied modules—of power rating 285 Wp or above—should have completed at least one year of successful operation.
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If NHPC wants to really help The Solar Industry, they must get off this “Big is Good Train” and start supporting Local & Small(er) Contractors and Suppliers.
1. Using their criteria 100MW NHPC is, once again, creating a web of their own making… and will soon be entangled in it.
2. Let me remind NHPC… that it is Funded & Owned by THE PEOPLE and not Large Businesses.
3. The Basic “Qualification Requirements”, in this case, ensures these EPC Contractors come…. from far far away… maybe even Overseas, destroying Small/Local Businesses in the process.
4. Such “local unfriendly Policies” ensure NHPC’s inability to get “Local Support” ANYWHERE for ANY Hydro Project and always resorts to “Hard/Coercive Measures” in ALL their Projects as they “Acquire By Force” the land needed for their Reservoirs / Facilities and also “hijack” the water / flow too.
5.This NHPC Policy exacerbates the fundamental problem in India that Projects are “reserved” for only the “Big, Manipulative, Lazy and “so-called” Well Proven” Organizations rather than Small, Innovative, Entrepreneurial & Hardworking (yes WITHOUT Subsidy Dole-Outs) Organizations.
6. The former few, then create and support a “cartel” (even if illegal) and Organizations like NHPC then ALWAYS pay a “premium” at the Expense of the Exchequer.
7. I assume NHPC will be installing these Solar Installations as “Floating PV Installations” on their Hydro Storage Water Bodies… and NOT on “New/Unused” Lands that also protect the Environment in their own way. . These Floating PV Installations on Hydro Reservoirs, further reduce Reservoir Evaporation Losses and avoid diversion of additional (scarce) land that supports the Mountain Sides, provides “Rain Water Reservoirs” too.. nourishing everything in and all around them.
8. In NHPC’s efforts to “Green” itself further, it must ensure that THE PEOPLE are “First in Line” and Big Businesses at the end… or as a LAST RESORT ONLY. (The latter already have their hands full as they have barely installed 250GW of Solar Power in over 15 years (^20GW/yr) sar. At this rate, it will take them over 500 years to install a 15TW System needed in India). Can India wait ….. for these “Big Businesses”, whose Greed want to “keep it all”? They have already handicapped India’s Development since Independence in 1947 with FULL COLLUSION Of EAO’s (Elected and Appointed Officials). They have a well-proven history of failures in meeting the nations aspirations …. over and over and over again…. but is, ironically, the “preferred vendor” by NHPC.
9. I would urge NHPC and other Organizations wanting to Install Solar Energy Systems, to follow the “Small/Local Business First -in-Line” Policy for Solar Power…. if it truly wants to “help” the nation and themselves too… in the long run.