Spain’s Solarpack and Italy’s Enel are amongst the winners of Solar Energy Corporation of India’s (SECI) latest utility-scale solar tender, which has tempted record-low bids from parties involved.
Winners of SECI’s ninth tranche of the Interstate Transmission System (ISTS)-connected solar tender competed for 2GW of contracts, with a total of 12 bids received. Of those, seven have been awarded, with 25-year power purchase agreements to be signed in the coming months.
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Solarpack confirmed today that it was amongst the winners, presenting an offer for a 396MW project at a price of INR2.36/kWh (US$0.031/kWh), equivalent to around €28/MWh. Extrapolated over the course of the contract’s length, Solarpack said it assured energy sales worth just over €500 million.
That tariff price is lower than the INR2.92/kWh tariff struck by Adani for its tender win earlier this month, and is crucially cheaper than previous low bids of INR2.44/kWh, seen in past tenders and decried by industry stakeholders as having held up awards.
By means of comparison, the price struck is still roughly twice that of record low bids seen in other nations, most notably Portugal and Abu Dhabi, the latter of which heralded a new world record earlier this year.
Enel Green Power, the renewables division of Italian utility Enel, revealed today that it too was amongst the winners in the Ninth Tranche tender, revealing it had won the right to sign a 25-year contract for a 420MWdc (equivalent to 300MWac, the capacity limit in this tender award) project in Rajasthan.
The project will be its first in the country, which Antonio Cammisecra, CEO at Enel Green Power, said was testament to the utility’s aim of expanding its clean footprint.
“India represents an important market in a strategic geography for our company, as it boasts a wealth of renewable resources and a highly competitive environment coupled with growing energy demand.
“We are proud to strengthen our presence in India with our first solar project, as we continue to contribute to the achievement of the country’s sustainable energy goals, while providing clean energy with the most innovative technologies,” he said.
More to follow…