New low for India Wind Energy tariff

The latest onshore wind energy auction in India has yielded the lowest-ever tariffs quoted by project developers. The wind energy auction organized by the state government of Gujarat its power distribution company revealed a tariff of Rs 2.43/kWh (¢3.8/kWh) as the lowest bid. The tender was floated for an allocation of 500 megawatts of capacity. The competition was so fierce that 12 developers submitted bids for a cumulative capacity of 1,527 megawatts, more than thrice the capacity on offer. None of the developers quoted a bid of more than Rs 3.00/kWh (¢4.7/kWh). The spread between the 12 bids was just Rs 0.52/kWh (¢0.8/kWh). The largest capacity was secured by Sprng Energy, a platform of Actis Energy. The company won 197.5 megawatts of capacity at the lowest tariff of Rs 2.43/kWh (¢3.80/kWh). Verdant Renewables won rights to develop 100 megawatts of capacity at Rs 2.44/kWh (¢3.81/kWh). KP Energy and Engie-backed Betam Wind Energy secured 30 megawatts of capacity each while Powerica will develop 50 megawatts of capacity, all at Rs 2.44/kWh (¢3.81/kWh) tariff. One of India’s leading renewable energy independent power generation companies, ReNew Power Ventures, bid for 200 megawatts of capacity at Rs 2.45/kWh (¢3.83/kWh) and due to this higher tariff managed to secure just 17.6 megawatts of capacity. Such is the competition that ReNew Power missed out on the 200 megawatt capacity by two-hundredths of a cent. The reason for this fierce competition is the lack of any power purchase agreements being carried out on the basis of feed-in tariffs. Wind energy projects are now being awarded only through competitive auctions.