The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd. (MSEDCL) has issued a tender to develop 50 MW (AC) of solar projects in thirty districts of the state.

The tender has invited bids for the development of 50 MW of solar projects in Nandurbar district of Maharashtra, and the same capacity has been tendered for 29 other districts of the state. These districts have been categorized under four regions: Western Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Marathwada and Rest of Maharashtra.

Minimum individual project capacity to be developed per district is 2 MW and the maximum individual project capacity has been fixed at 10 MW per district by MSEDCL.

MSEDCL has set the tariff ceiling at ₹3.10 (~$ 0.043) per unit in this tender.

The solar power generator will be responsible for the design, finance, procurement of land, engineering, procurement, construction, operations and maintenance of the projects, in line with the power purchase agreements (PPA) signed between solar power generator and MSEDCL.

MSEDCL will enter into PPA with the selected bidders for a period of 25 years.  The bidders will be free to avail fiscal incentives like accelerated depreciation, concessional customs and excise duties, tax holidays, benefits from trading of carbon credits, as available for such projects, if applicable.

In the tender, MSEDCL has also specified that the earnest money deposit required will be ₹0.8 million (~$11,028.80)/MW for each project.

Last date for the submission of bid is October 23, 2018. Technical bids will open on October 24, 2018 and eligible bidders for each district will be informed about the opening date of financial bid later.

Recently, Mercom reported that lowest (L1) tariff of ₹2.71 (~$0.0401)/kWh was quoted in the auction held by MSEDCL for the development of 1 GW of grid-connected solar projects in the state. This was the lowest solar tariff for a grid-connected solar PV project in Maharashtra.

In April 2018, MSEDCL had invited Expression of Interest (EoI) from prospective solar project developers to set up a 1 GW floating solar PV project on Ujjani Dam reservoir in Solapur district of Maharashtra.