TG Solar Entrepreneurs seek fair opportunity in School Projects

Metro India News | Hyderabad 

The Telangana Solar Energy Association (TSEA) has urged the State government to revise eligibility norms in the recently floated tender for installation of 2 kW, 3 kW and 5 kW rooftop solar systems in nearly 10,000 government schools, alleging that the conditions effectively exclude Telangana based solar SMEs from participation.

TSEA president Burra Ashok kumar Goud stated that local solar companies had successfully executed projects under the previous Mana Ooru Mana Badi programme, generating employment and demonstrating their technical capability. However, the new tender mandates a minimum annual turnover of Rs 150 crore and prior execution of 25 MW rooftop solar projects in a single year, making most Telangana based enterprises ineligible.

The association argued that rooftop solar installations in Telangana have rarely crossed 20 MW annually over the past decade, making the criteria unrealistic and seemingly tailored to a handful of large, predominantly out of state companies. It also pointed out that a similar school solar tender awarded earlier to non local firms has reportedly witnessed slow progress despite more than a year having passed.

TSEA said the eligibility conditions run contrary to the spirit of Telangana's MSME policy, which encourages local entrepreneurship, employment generation and industrial growth. The association clarified that it is not seeking preferential treatment but a fair and competitive framework that allows capable local companies to participate. The association also recalled its earlier representation to TGREDCO seeking relaxation of technical eligibility norms in a 19 MW solarisation tender, where bidders were required to have executed projects equivalent to 100 percent of the tendered capacity. TSEA had requested that the threshold be reduced to 50 percent of the project capacity to promote wider participation and healthy competition.

Seeking the intervention of the State government, TSEA said rationalising the eligibility conditions would help accelerate clean energy adoption, create local employment, strengthen Telangana's MSME sector and ensure better project execution through local accountability.