industry

Tepid response to Gujarat solar tender


BENGALURU: A 500 MW solar tender issued by Gujarat has received a lukewarm response because most solar energy generators found the ceiling tariff to be too low, industry insiders said.

Tata Power, Juniper Green and Vena Energy submitted bids totalling 430 MW in the tender issued by the state’s main distribution company Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL). “We are certainly not too happy,” said a GUVNL executive who requested not to be named. “We were expecting to get at least 700-800 MW, but somehow people have not participated.”

The ceiling tariff for the auction was Rs 2.65 per unit. The reverse auction has been scheduled for March 16.

GUVNL had in May last year conducted a 500 MW solar auction were tariffs were in the range of Rs 2.65-2.70 per unit.

The GUVNL executive said the state expects the tariffs to fall further. “The module prices have fallen so we’re expecting lower tariffs,” the person said.

An industry executive, however, said the ceiling of Rs 2.65 per unit is too low. “The practise of setting a ceiling tariff is being done away with by the government,” the person said on the condition of anonymity.

The renewable energy ministry had last week directed all state distribution companies and central agencies not to prescribe an upper ceiling tariff in future renewable energy auctions. Solar Energy Corporation of India, the renewable energy ministry’s nodal agency for holding auctions, had conducted a solar auction late February where the lowest winning tariff was Rs 2.51 per unit.

Winners of the auction can commission their projects in any part of the country which will be linked to the interstate transmission system to supply power anywhere in the country. “The SECI auction winners are expected to set up their projects in Rajasthan where radiation is higher,” said the executive quoted earlier.





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