Commodities
India Invites Bids for 2.8 GWe Nuclear Project in Rajasthan
India has invited bids for engineering, procurement, and construction of the nuclear island portion of the 2.8 gigawatt-electric Mahi Banswara Rajasthan Atomic Power Project in Rajasthan state.The tender was launched on Thursday, with the last date for sale and receipt being Sept. 30, according to the state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India's website.The 28,000 crore Indian rupees ($2.91 billion) Nuclear Island Mega EPC Package covers "engineering, manufacturing, supply, civil construction, installation, testing and commissioning assistance of critical nuclear island systems" for four 700 megawatts-electric capacity units at the facility, which use the country's indigenous pressurized heavy water reactor technology, NPCIL said in a social media post."The tender reinforces the shared commitment towards delivering reliable, low-carbon baseload electricity in support of India's long-term energy security and the national vision of achieving 100 GW of nuclear power capacity by 2047," it said.Anushakti Vidhyut Nigam, NPCIL's joint venture with power producer NTPC, is offering the tender.The project, to be built at an estimated cost of 420 billion rupees, is India's first nuclear generator not fully owned by NPCIL, according to a Bloomberg report on Thursday.The first reactor is expected to begin operations in 2031, with the other three units becoming operational over the following five years, the report added, citing an NTPC statement from last year.Nuclear generation accounts for only 3% of India's current power capacity, the report added.