Rajasthan to Solarize Water Pumps under KUSUM Program

In Budget 2020, FM Nirmala Sitharaman gave a special emphasis on the solarization of water pumps under the PM KUSUM Yojana. In line with this, the government of Rajasthan has put its best foot forward by floating a tender to solarize water pumps. Ajmer Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (AVVNL) has floated a tender for solarizing 5,874 water pumps distributed on 92 selected feeders in the Ajmer distribution company to provide assistance with the solarization of grid-connected agricultural consumers. In simple words, the organization is calling out for bids. 

The area of work will include the design, survey, supply, installation, testing, commissioning of the solar systems. A quintessential requirement is that the bidders must provide comprehensive maintenance for five years. 

For those who wish to bid, the last date for submitting bids is March 4, 2020. The cost of the whole project is estimated to be Rs 1.39 billion and the time period in which it is expected to get completed is nine months from the date of signing the letter of intent. Another important thing to note here is that the bidders are expected to pay a security amount of 2% of the estimated cost of the lot.  

Under the scope of Component-C of the Government of India's Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Uttam Mahabhiyan (KUSUM) program, this project has been designed and will be executed further. Under this component, the solarization of one million grid-connected agricultural water pumps up to 7.5 horsepower (HP) is been targeted so that the farmers can get benefits of using solar pumps in their field. The other component of this scheme 'Component-B' focuses more on installing 1.75 million standalone solar pumps for agriculture. 

To claim eligibility in this bidding process, the applicant is required to have a sound experience of the last five years in supplying, installing, and maintaining grid-connected or off-grid solar systems of a capacity of 5 kW.