Maharashtra’s Nandurbar Municipal Council (NMC) has issued three tenders for 939 kW of rooftop solar projects. The individual capacities of the tenders are 310 kW, 314 kW, and 315 kW. The projects are slated to be installed across various locations including rooftops of hospitals, water filtration plants, shopping complexes, fire stations, and truck terminals.

The scope of work under the tenders include the design, fabrication, supply, installation, testing, commissioning and operation and maintenance for five years.

The earnest money deposit for each tender has been kept at ₹200,000 ($2,785). Bidders are also mandated to furnish a security deposit of 3% of the total contract value after issuing the Letter of Intent (LOI). The tenders clarify that the work orders will be issued only after the submission of the security deposit.

Projects under these tenders are expected to be commissioned within 180 days from the date of the issuance of work orders. Pre-bid meetings will be held on August 26, 2019.

The last date for the submission of bids is September 2, 2019.

Earlier this year, the Public Works Department (PWD) of Amravati division in the state of Maharashtra also issued a tender to install 2 MW of grid-connected rooftop solar PV systems.

A report by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) has proposed using municipal bonds to facilitate the achievement of this goal and details how such bonds could be designed and implemented to support the scaling up of rooftop solar across the country. The proposed solar municipal bond model, CPI says, would remove three key barriers to the continued growth of the country’s rooftop solar sector, namely: the high upfront capital expenditures required for installation, perceived performance risk, and limited access to debt capital.

India’s plan to achieve 40 GW of rooftop solar its part of its broader goal of achieving 100 GW of solar capacity across the country by 2022.

Shaurya is a staff reporter at MercomIndia.com with experience working in the Indian solar energy industry for the past four years in various roles. Prior to joining Mercom, Shaurya worked with a renewable energy developer and a consulting company. Shaurya holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Management from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom.