Contract to number to equipment to evidence
From the tender document to the plant in operation, every number traced to a clause or a stated assumption.
Eikos Advisory Services LLP advises developers, EPC contractors, lenders and insurers on bids, sizing, procurement and assurance, from a tender document to a plant in operation. Every engagement is led and signed by its principal.
What the bid work has produced
Results achieved in the principal’s previous roles at Kalpataru Power Transmission, Advait Energy Transitions and KPI Green Energy.
Start from the question you have on the table
Each one is answered in writing, from the document in front of you, with every number traced to a clause or a stated assumption.
What tariff do I need to bid to win this tender?
The tariff is derived from the tender document and stated assumptions, not chosen and then justified.
What does each clause of this agreement really cost me?
A clause-by-clause reading: who carries which risk, and what it costs in tariff terms.
Is this supplier’s offer safe to accept?
Offers normalised to a common basis, with the evidence gates that must be passed before you sign.
Will this appraisal survive a lender’s read?
A financial case rooted in the contract, with the scenarios that decide it laid open.
Is this installation safe, and what happens after a loss?
Requirements mapped to evidence, a graded opinion, and attribution after an incident.
How will this draft regulation or tender document affect us?
Commentary on regulations, orders and tender documents, including tariff and statutory safety regimes.
One principal, two qualifications, named associates by discipline
Mining and process safety, regulatory and appraisal practice, transmission and utility-scale storage.
BE Mining, Shibpur · First Class Mine Manager’s Certificate, DGMS
A statutory competency. The regime itself is the examined subject, and the duty rests personally on the holder.
PGDBA, ICFAI · Third level CFA (India)
Costing, appraisal, financial analysis, and the economic side of regulation.
Kausik Chowdhuri began underground in coal mining at Eastern Coalfields (1987 to 1996), then worked in electricity regulation with DFID, CRISIL Advisory and KPMG, led PPP bids at Kalpataru Power Transmission for eleven years, and since 2020 has worked in solar, green hydrogen and battery storage. He signs every Eikos engagement personally.
| Capability | Discipline | Where it was built |
|---|---|---|
| Contract and risk | Both | Kalpataru: Rs 6,500 cr of road and transmission assets, bid to financial close; storage tenders since |
| Sizing and BOQ | Engineering | Kalpataru, Advait, KPI Green: transmission, electrolyser and standalone BESS |
| Commercial and decision | Business | CRISIL Advisory and KPMG: appraisal and tariff work; five years of road BOT bids, contract to model |
| Procurement support | Both | Eastern Coalfields and Kalpataru: specification, enquiry and what contractors deliver against it |
| Performance audit and assurance | Engineering | Eastern Coalfields: nine years underground, safety officer and unit manager; three published safety handbooks |
| Policy and regulation | Both | DFID regulatory practice, four ADB technical assistance assignments, KPMG |
Five capabilities, in the order a project meets them
The same five serve a developer, an EPC contractor, a lender and an insurer. Each buys a different part of the sequence, and each is told which part is being bought.
Contract and risk
- Obligation register
- Clause-wise risk
- Risk classification
Sizing and BOQ
- Sizing to the interface point
- BOQ on citable codes
- Quantity basis
Commercial and decision
- CMA and financial model
- Bid decision
- Impact and scenario analysis
Procurement support
- Specification and enquiry
- Offer normalisation
- Evidence gates
Performance audit and assurance
- Requirement-to-evidence
- Graded opinion
- Taking over and attribution
Storage bid to CMA
One sector, one engagement type. The layers beneath a bid decision.
- 4DecisionImpact and scenario analysis: every route to the number, with the risk each route carries
- 3FinancialCMA and the financial model, rooted in the register rather than in a template
- 2RiskClause-cited risk register, classified on bearer, option, mechanism and quantification basis
- 1CostObligation-derived sizing and BOQ to the interface point, every quantity on a code
What capex can a winning tariff carry?
SJVN’s 265 MW / 530 MWh standalone BESS tender in Haryana, won by NLC India Renewables at Rs 2.35 lakh/MW/month. Public information only; the arithmetic is shown so it can be checked.
| From tariff to capex, Rs lakh per MWh | Value |
|---|---|
| Tariff revenue per year, at 95% availability | 13.4 |
| Present value of revenue over 12 years, at a 10% project IRR | 91.3 |
| Less: present value of running costs | (13.5) |
| Revenue after running costs | 77.8 |
| Add: present value of the Rs 18.0 VGF, received in tranches | 16.6 |
| Gross capex the tariff can carry | 94.4 |
| For the whole 530 MWh project | Rs 500 crore |
| Gross capex carried, Rs lakh/MWh | IRR 8% | IRR 10% | IRR 12% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tariff 1.97 | 87.5 | 81.5 | 76.2 |
| Tariff 2.10 | 92.4 | 85.9 | 80.2 |
| Tariff 2.25 | 97.9 | 91.0 | 84.9 |
| Tariff 2.35 | 101.6 | 94.4 | 88.1 |
Assumptions, not from the tender: 95% availability paid; O&M of 1.5% of capex a year, rising 3% a year; one augmentation spend of 5% of capex in year 7; VGF paid 10% at financial closure, 45% at commercial operation and 15% a year for the next three years, as in the government’s earlier BESS VGF scheme, and simplified to start at year 0. Pre-tax, before debt; tax and grid charges ignored. Public sources: award report, Saur Energy; tender terms, SolarQuarter; Panipat 250 MW result, Saur Energy; VGF scheme, PIB. Illustration only, not advice on any bid.
Where the work has been done, and what each rests on
Grid-scale storage
Standalone and co-located BESS: tender to CMA, safety assurance, taking over. BESS manufacturing strategy: entry route, technology and supplier selection, certification programme.
Distribution and transmission
Utility-scale lines and substations, sanction to commissioning.
Solar
Utility-scale and distributed solar, and solar co-located with storage.
Coal, mining and gasification
Deep-seam methane drainage and mine safety under a statutory regime. Surface coal and lignite gasification: feedstock assurance, eligible-cost definition, lender-side appraisal.
Green hydrogen and derivatives
Electrolyser sizing against a delivery obligation; ammonia synthesis safety.
Concession infrastructure
Roads on HAM, BOT and TOT. Termination, milestones, annuity mechanics.
Seven works, open access and permanent
Citable by anyone, including a tribunal. All records are under ORCID 0009-0001-8271-751X, CC-BY. Concept DOIs are cited, so each link resolves to the current version.
Safety Assurance of Grid-Scale Battery Energy Storage Systems
63 numbered requirements
doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21969460The Graded Audit Opinion in Use
One installation, two audits: how a finding moves as the window closes
doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21983328Three Findings from Costing a BESS
What appears when a plant is priced from the contract rather than from a rate
doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21997780Safety Assurance of Deep-Coal Coal Bed Methane Extraction
64 numbered requirements
doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22094439Safety Assurance of the Green-Ammonia Value Chain
Six principles, seven hazards, 47 requirements
doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21647611Battery Second-Life Grading and Routing Methodology
Grading retired cells for the reuse-or-recycle decision
doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21265746Independent Verification, Grading and Two-Way Custody of Second-Life Batteries
The custody framework the grading methodology sits inside
doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21301195Three shapes, and where to start
Fixed fee for the work. A success element only where the outcome is defined and verifiable.
Diagnostic
- A tender, supply agreement, offer or draft specification read, with a written opinion
- Delivered as findings, not as a proposal for more work
Defined scope
- A bid, an appraisal, a certification programme, a supplier introduction to a bid
- Fee on the order placed or closure achieved; none in bid advisory or assurance
Retained
- A programme carried through: a bid season, an entry route, a manufacturer’s sales support
- Retainer set off against any fee on orders
Most relationships begin with one document and a written opinion on it
- A tender you are deciding whether to bid
- A supply agreement or technical offer you are about to accept
- An appraisal that has to survive being read again in three years
- A draft regulation or tender document out for comment
- A plant approaching taking over, or a loss that needs attribution
- A coal gasification application, or a lender’s appraisal of one
Start with one document
Send the tender, agreement, offer or draft you are about to act on, with the decision it feeds and the date you need to decide by. You receive a written opinion at a fixed fee, agreed before any work begins.
Stated in advance, because the question will be asked
Cannot be combined on one project
- Bid advisory to a developer and lender’s appraisal of that same project
- Drafting a regulation, order or tender document for an authority and advising a party on its response to that same document
- Advice to a buyer on supplier selection and an undisclosed fee from a supplier under consideration
- Expert opinion for one party and any prior engagement for the other on the same facts
How it is handled
- A conflict check before any engagement is accepted, on the project and on the counterparties
- One side of a project at a time, declared in writing
- Any fee payable by a third party is disclosed in writing to the client and accepted before it is earned, and is never taken in bid advisory or on an assurance mandate
- The LLP’s registered objects bar it from manufacturing, supplying, installing, operating or trading in any plant or equipment of a kind it audits, inspects or reports upon
- No remuneration is linked to the outcome or the findings of any audit
- Prior work disclosed to a tribunal or a lender without being asked
Kausik Chowdhuri
Principal, Eikos Advisory Services LLP · Ahmedabad