fortum

Fortum connected a 100MW solar plant to the grid at the Pavagada solar park in the Tumkur District of Karnataka, India.

Finnish firm Fortum has commissioned a 70MW solar PV plant in the Indian state of Rajasthan, which it won last year at what was then a record low tariff of INR4.34/kWh (US$0.067).

Finland-based energy firm Fortum has invested €5.2 million in Exeger Sweden AB, dye-sensitized solar cell start-up to help support the launch of commercial products in 2017.

Difficulties in financing Indian solar projects with extremely low tariffs and the wobbling of major solar player SunEdison will not impact the long-term prospects of India’s PV market, according to two senior banking and finance representatives.

Domestic developers triumphed in Karnataka’s 500MW solar auction, maintaining the market’s fiercely competitive tariff levels with winning bids between INR4.78-4.8/kWh (US$0.072) for capacity in the Pavagada Solar Park in Tumkur District.

India’s fiercely competitive solar auctions have driven bids down to another surprise low with Finland-based developer Fortum Finnsurya Energy winning 70MW capacity in Rajasthan at a price of INR4.34/kWh (US$0.064), which is a drop of more than a 6% from the previous Indian record of INR4.63/kWh.