Azure Power has emerged as the lowest (L1) bidder in the recently conducted 250 MW solar auction. The project will be developed under the domestic content requirement (DCR) category. Azure Power quoted a tariff of ₹3.14/kWh to develop 250 MW of solar under DCR.

In the auction, tariffs quoted ranged between a high of ₹4.95/kWh and a low of ₹3.14/kWh. ReNew Power and Waaree Energies were the other bidders who quoted below ₹4/kWh; ReNew Power quoted a tariff of ₹3.15/kWh to develop 150 MW, and Waaree Energies quoted ₹3.95/kWh to develop 25 MW.

The other bidders were, Mahoba Solar (UP) who quoted ₹4.44/kWh to develop 250 MW and Canadian Solar Energy Holding who quoted ₹4.95/kWh to develop 100 MW.

The difference in bids quoted was significant with the highest bid almost 58 percent more than the winning bid.

NTPC tendered the project in August 2017 and the developer could  choose to develop the project anywhere in India. An NTPC official confirmed the results of the auction and said the entire capacity will be awarded to Azure Power, the L1 bidder. “These are good tariffs for a DCR project,” added the NTPC official.

Azure Power recently won a 260 MW solar project quoting a tariff of ₹2.67 (~$0.0417)/kWh in the recently held Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) 500 MW solar auction.

December 14, 2017 will be the last day for the DCR category based on the WTO ruling.

More to come…

Image credit: Azure Power

Saumy is a senior staff reporter with MercomIndia.com covering business and energy news since 2016. Prior to Mercom, Saumy was a copy editor at Thomson Reuters. Saumy earned his Bachelors Degree in Journalism & Mass Communication from the Manipal Institute of Communication at Manipal University. More articles from Saumy Prateek.