State-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd has signed an agreement with Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd BHEL) for cooperation in Development of solar power projects. GAIL shall be the project developer and BHEL shall act as an engineering, procurement, construction and project management contractor.

BHEL shall also provide operation and maintenance services during the initial period upon becoming successful bidder. This development will help both the companies to leverage their competitive strengths to build a substantial portfolio in solar power projects. The memorandum of understanding aims at building a closer strategic partnership between the two Maharatna PSUs for jointly pursuing commercial solar power projects through participation in tariff / Viability Gap Funding (VGF) based competitive bidding process. GAIL is India`s biggest natural gas company with diversified interests across the value chain of trading, transmission, LPG production and transmission, LNG re-gasification, petrochemicals and city gas.