How to choose a solar EPC contractor in Bangladesh: ten questions, and what a good answer sounds like
By Vvon Engineering Team | Published | Updated
Ten questions to put to any solar EPC contractor in Bangladesh before signing, the answers that should worry you, the red flags in a quotation, and the handover documents a serious contractor produces at commissioning.
Compare a solar EPC proposal by its evidence: design responsibility, exact equipment, installation scope, utility work, acceptance tests and support. These ten questions help identify omissions without relying on a brand logo or headline payback.
How should I compare solar EPC companies in Bangladesh?
Compare evidence from similar projects, a site-specific design, the equipment schedule, exclusions and the handover and service commitments. Ask what the contractor actually delivered on each reference project. Review VVON's published projects and the solar EPC scope against the same brief you send to other bidders.
Can I compare solar quotations using only price per kW?
First make the capacity basis and scope identical: DC array capacity and AC inverter capacity are different figures. Compare structural and electrical work, protection, utility coordination, commissioning, taxes and maintenance separately. A lower unit price can reflect omitted work. Use the rooftop solar selection guide to define the operating requirements.
What should I send to request a solar EPC quotation?
Share the site location, electricity bills, daytime load information, available roof or land, photographs and required date. Identify whether backup or export control is required. Send a project brief; a firm proposal needs the site's engineering and utility requirements to be confirmed.
Check project evidence against the scope you are buying
VVON's published portfolio includes the 1,503 kWp Akij Agro Feed project and the 575 kWp Ahad Jute Mills project. These records identify project capacity and equipment. Request the available scope, commissioning and service records when assessing a comparable site; a listed capacity does not establish your site's future generation or financial return.
Evidence
Question to ask each EPC bidder
Comparable project
What work did your company perform, and what records can be shared?
Generation estimate
Which site data, losses and operating assumptions support the estimate?
Contract scope
Which structural/electrical works, approvals and tests are included or excluded?
Handover and maintenance
Who is responsible, which records are supplied and how is support requested?
The ten essential questions
What is the supply chain? Verify authenticity, applicable warranty and any claimed OEM authorisation with current documents.
Can you provide comparable references? Request the customer's permission before contacting or visiting a project.
What is included and excluded? List structural work, electrical protection, utility fees, monitoring and maintenance.
Which equipment warranty applies? Read exact model, purchase-date, market, remedy and exclusions; brand tiers do not set warranty duration.
How will faults be supported locally? Identify service contacts, parts, freight and response commitments.
Is performance guaranteed? If offered, define the calculation, measurements, exclusions and remedy.
What is the O&M scope? Agree activities, duration, safety access, parts and response terms.
Who is competent to perform the work? Verify the required professional qualifications and safety training.
Who handles the application? Name owner, contractor and utility responsibilities.
What monitoring and records are handed over? Specify the data needed to operate and investigate the system.
Red flags to watch for
Missing module/inverter model numbers or unclear substitutions.
Unverifiable references, authorisation or warranty arrangements.
No defined structural and electrical design responsibility.
Yield or return figures without assumptions.
Scope exclusions or fees that cannot be reconciled between offers.
Missing commissioning, monitoring or maintenance deliverables.
A lower price may reflect scope, design, procurement or margin. Compare the same specifications and exclusions before drawing conclusions; a percentage below an invented market range is not evidence of defective work.
What to establish before you go to tender
You will get better proposals, and be much harder to mislead, if you supply these facts to every bidder rather than letting each one guess.
Sanctioned load and transformer rating, from the bill and the substation nameplate. These set the approvable capacity ceiling and there is no point pricing a plant above it.
Twelve months of electricity bills, and daytime consumption if you can extract it. Without this, treat savings as an assumption requiring validation.
Roof construction and age. RCC, corrugated metal on steel purlins, or asbestos sheet. Purlin spacing and remaining sheet life change the mounting design completely, and asbestos changes the method statement.
Roof obstructions and future plans. Water tanks, lift machine rooms, vents, existing plant, and any building work planned nearby that will cast a new shadow.
Tenure. Owned or leased, and how long the lease runs against the expected payback.
Existing generator and any large non-linear load. The generator interface has to be engineered, and harmonics from existing VFDs or induction furnaces affect inverter selection and protection.
The documents a serious contractor hands over
Define the handover pack and acceptance process before award. Agree payment milestones and any retention under the applicable contract rather than inferring a contractor's intent from one negotiation.
As-built single line diagram and array layout, reflecting what was actually installed rather than what was designed.
String test records: open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current for every string, with the irradiance and temperature at the time of test.
Insulation resistance and earth continuity test results for DC and AC sides, with instrument details.
Earthing and lightning protection test report, including measured earth resistance.
Inverter configuration record: grid protection settings, power factor, export limits where applicable, and firmware version.
Thermal scan report of modules, combiners and terminations at commissioning, which becomes the baseline every later scan is compared against.
Structural design calculation and wind load basis for the mounting system.
Utility approval file: NOC, approval letter, signed net-metering agreement and meter details.
Warranty certificates in your company's name, with serial numbers, plus the O&M manual and monitoring platform credentials transferred to your staff.
If you are a public buyer on e-GP
Public buyers should use current BPPA procurement rules and the applicable tender conditions. Set proportionate, measurable performance and qualification criteria, provide the required evidence and avoid assuming that a named brand or Bloomberg tier substitutes for a compliant specification.
Where Vvon fits
Discuss Vvon's solar EPC scope and ask for the same design, supply-chain, reference and support evidence you request from any bidder. Confirm who performs specialist work and which obligations are included.