Solar capacity auctioned last night in the Indian state of Jharkhand saw significant contrasts in bids received for the smaller-scale sub-25MW category when compared to the larger utility-scale segment, with Indian developer Renew Power winning big.
Category 1, for projects up to 25MW capacity, saw bids ranging from roughly INR5.29-7.95/kWh (US$0.07), whereas Category 2, for projects of 26-500MW, received bids in the range of INR5.08-5.48/kWh, according to Ashish Verma, consultant at Indian-based firm Gensol Solar, who followed the tendering.
The major winners in Category 2 included:
- Renew Power 522MW
- Suzlon 150MW in Category 2 and 25MW in Category 1
- SunEdison 150MW
- OPG Power 99MW
- Acme Solar Holdings 50MW
- Adani 50MW
Verma said Gensol’s analysis is that the bidding was well participated with a total of 18 bidders submitting for 213MW in Category 1 and 2,275MW in Category 2.
In Category 1, Madhav Solar put in the lowest bid, meanwhile Inter Ocean Shipping India won with the highest bid. For Category 2, Renew Power submitted the lowest winning bid at INR 5.08/kWh for a 35MW project, with the highest winning bid of INR5.48/kWh coming from Acme.
Mudit Jain, consultant at Bridge to India said on Twitter that the Jharkhand bid results had a “stark difference” between categories.
Verma said that the Jharkhand state Distribution Company (Discom) has a poor credit rating (C-rated), but added: “The Jharkhand state government has tried so hard to attract the solar power developer to invest, as the state is providing reimbursement of transmission line costs for up to 10 kilometres along with benefits covered in the Jharkhand State Solar Policy.”
This article has been revised to say to that Suzlon won 1x25MW project in Category 1. ReNEw also won 522MW.