India’s Odisha awards 270MW in ‘pruned’ solar auction

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Flickr:Essel, IBC and Jyoti all won capacity with VGF funding.  Gopi Sutar

Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has awarded 270MW of solar PV capacity in the Indian state of Odisha to three firms.

The winners, who bid at a fixed tariff of INR4.43/kWh (US$0.067) combined with viability gap funding (VGF) provided by SECI, were:

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

Not ready to commit yet?
  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Developer Capacity (MW) VGF (INR)
Essel Green Energy 240 4.95 million
IBC Solar 20 4.925 million
Jyoti Infrastructure 10 4.915 million

Odisha originally planned a tender for 450MW under the National Solar Mission Phase-II Batch IV, but this was pruned down to 300MW and then reduced further to 270MW for the bidding process, Shailendra Bebortha, managing director of IBC Solar Projects, told PV Tech.

The VGF in this case will be paid on commissioning of the project in one transaction, which effectively reduces the capital cost of the project.

Bebortha said: “In terms of tariff it will translate to somewhere between 4.8 to 4.9 rupees per kilowatt hour.”

He added: “In terms of competition it was low compared to other tenders we have seen in the market. In terms of number of participants and in terms of aggressiveness it was generally ok, not too good or too bad.”

Some regions of Odisha have relatively good solar irradiation comparable to some other strong solar states.

Until last autumn IBC had concentrated on EPC services for projects in India, but its win in Odisha marks its first foray into the project development sector in India.

Yesterday SECI announced it is setting up a 'Payment Security Fund' to ensure that payments from Distribution Companies to solar developers are on schedule.

Read Next

August 28, 2025
Indian solar manufacturing firm INA Solar has broken ground on its fourth 4.5GW cell production plant in Narmadapuram, Madhya Pradesh.
August 26, 2025
Jakson Engineers is investing over INR80 billion (US$912.5 million) to set up a 6GW integrated solar module, cell, and wafer plant.
August 26, 2025
India installed 14.3GW of new utility-scale solar capacity in the first half (H1) of 2025, marking a 49% increase year-on-year.
Premium
August 22, 2025
Indian PV manufacturers are facing a double hit from US trade tariffs and anti-dumping measures on products sold in America. Shreeyashi Ojha reports on how these are impacting their business models.
August 21, 2025
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), through its renewable energy arm NTPC Green Energy, has commissioned 212.5MW of solar capacity at its 1.25GW Khavda-I project. 
August 19, 2025
Indian renewable energy company SAEL Industries has signed two 880MW power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the Indian states of Gujarat and Punjab.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece
Solar Media Events
September 30, 2025
Seattle, USA
Solar Media Events
October 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
October 2, 2025
London,UK
Solar Media Events
October 7, 2025
Manila, Philippines