India’s Azure gets green light for 2GW ISTS solar project

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Image credit: Azure Power

Azure Power has lined up the latest solar contract of a string this year, securing the government’s backing for a major interstate transmission (ISTS) project.

On Thursday, the developer said it has been picked by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to deploy 2GW of solar across the country, backed by a power purchase agreement (PPA).

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • 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

The scheme, supported by the SECI’s new letter of award, will seek to deploy annual 500MW PV batches at yet-to-be decided locations all across India, Azure said in a statement.

The firm expects all plants to be commissioned between 2022 and 2025. Their output has been contracted via a 25-year PPA with SECI, featuring tariffs of INR2.92/kWh (US$0.041/kWh).

The tariff, said Azure CEO Ranjit Gupta, is 8% higher than the “last discovered” figure from SECI for ISTS projects. “This opportunity is attractive to us for many reasons,” Gupta remarked.

The PPA with SECI will offer Azure protection against curtailment, a long-running issue for Indian renewables. The deal allows the developer to override ISTS transmission fees.

In return for the long-term state backing to its 2GW push, Azure is required to support 500MW in domestic PV cell and module manufacturing capacity.

The firm explained it has already signed a tentative deal with a “leading” Indian panel maker to take over a majority stake of the 500MW component.

The 2GW contract win is the latest of a series for Azure this year, following the SECI’s awarding of a smaller ISTS PV project – at 300MW of capacity – in late July 2019.

The developer has also scored victories at SECI utility-scale auctions, bagging tariffs of around INR2.50-2.54/kWh (US$0.035/kWh) for 370MW of PV at two tenders in September.

A question looming over India more broadly has been whether the country can reach its 175GW-by-2022 renewable target, amid analyst warnings that the goal lies beyond reach.

21 March 2024
4pm (GMT)
This special webinar will look at one of the most important changes impacting PV manufacturing today; how to establish and sustain new facilities around the world. For more than two decades, policy-makers have grappled with the challenges of nurturing domestic manufacturing sectors. Many countries have tried to create domestic sectors: Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, India, Europe and the U.S. But success stories have been rare. Mistakes seem to be repeated. And all the while, Chinese dominance of the industry has only increased. However, in the past 2-3 years, new drivers have emerged that suggest the dream of a global PV manufacturing ecosystem could be a reality. Join us as we shed light on this.
26 November 2024
Málaga, Spain
Understanding PV module supply to the European market in 2025. PV ModuleTech Europe 2024 is a two-day conference that tackles these challenges directly, with an agenda that addresses all aspects of module supplier selection; product availability, technology offerings, traceability of supply-chain, factory auditing, module testing and reliability, and company bankability.

Read Next

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
March 19, 2024
Texas, USA
Solar Media Events
March 26, 2024
Lisbon, Portugal
Solar Media Events
April 10, 2024
Dallas, Texas USA