500-MW Indian solar auction draws lowest price of INR 2.20

Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has received bids as low as INR 2.20 (US$ 0.034) per kWh in a 500-MW rooftop solar tender for government buildings in India.

SECI has released a document containing the provisional figures in whith the lowest tariff was from Mundra Solar PV Ltd for a 11MW project in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands a special category state. The lowest prices for general states category were INR3.14/kWh in Goa and Telanagana from Ishwar Cables, and in Madhya Pradesh from RMS Automation Systems.

On the other hand, Suryan International Pvt. submitted the highest proposal with INR 4.59 MW/KWh for a solar scheme in the state of Bihar.

Of the 500-MW solar auction,  50.5MW are set to be awarded under the CAPEX model and 454.2MW under the RESCO (renewable energy service company), or third-party owned, mode.

As we reported in December 2017, SECI launched a tender of 1000 MW capacity for development of grid-connected rooftop solar capacity for Central Government Ministries/Departments. 

The 1000 MW tender, one of the largest globally, was a move to rapidly escalate rooftop solar capacity in the country, and came in succession to SECI’s earlier tender of 500 MW capacity, targeting buildings in the residential/institutional and social sectors. However, In April, SECI reduced the capacity from 1GW to just 500 MW, after a buildings survey resulted in lower potential figures.

This tender is especially targeted at utilizing the numerous buildings of the Central Government Ministries/Departments. The highlight of this tender is its innovative "Achievement-Linked Incentives scheme" wherein the incentives in terms of capital subsidy shall be provided on the basis of performance achieved by designated Ministries/departments against their committed targets in the given timespan.

The power generated from the systems shall be used for meeting the captive requirement of the buildings and the surplus power, if any, shall be fed to the grid under the net-metering arrangement of the respective State.

The project is part of the Government of India’s target for installation of 40 GW rooftop solar power plants by the year 2022 and it is expected to give a big boost to the rooftop solar power generation segment.

We have lately informed about other solar tenders in India: 

• TEDA issues RfP for 500-MW solar park in Tamil Nadu
• Indian state of Maharashtra to tender 2 GW of solar projects
• New tender in India for 750 MW solar parks in Rajasthan
• Tamil Nadu solar auction attracts 3.7 GW of bids