Govt asks agencies to scrap RE bids that flouted local manufacturing rule

MNRE asks agencies like SECI, NTPC and SJVNL to cancel tenders with short timelines that bypassed the ALMM mandate on locally manufactured solar cells

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy on Friday issued an advisory to government agencies that manage project-tendering processes to cancel and reissue all tenders that offered very short timelines to companies for procuring locally manufactured solar cells.

 

Certain government agencies in the renewable energy sector in August issued bids with procurement timelines as short as seven days, said the ministry in an advisory. “This seems to have been issued clearly to circumvent the MNRE mandate of Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) for cells.”

 

MNRE did not give the number of bids or the value of projects likely to be impacted by the advisory addressed to Renewable Energy Implementing Agencies, Solar Energy Corporation of India, NTPC Ltd, SJVNL, and other public sector units and government bodies.

 

"All agencies are requested to strictly comply with the existing rules and regulations when issuing bids for procurement. Any existing bids with short bidding timelines, which have been issued without complying with the existing GFR rules and CVC regulations may be scrapped, if required, and new bids may be issued with full compliance to the extant provisions," the ministry said, referring to general financial rules and the Central Vigilance Commission.

 

The advisory instructed tender-issuing agencies to report within 15 days the action they take. MNRE emphasised that the agencies must adhere to the rules and regulations issued by the Finance Ministry and CVC in matters related to public procurement for maintaining financial propriety and transparency.

 

ALMM is a MNRE policy to promote quality and reliability in the solar supply chain. It mandates that for projects commissioned from June 1, 2026, solar PV modules mentioned in the ALMM List-I must use ALMM listed solar cells.