Softbank Energy (SB Energy) and GRT Jewellers India (GRT) have been allocated capacities totaling 480 MW in the auction held by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) against its tender for 1,200 MW of solar projects.

Earlier this month, Mercom had reported that the tender was left undersubscribed by 50%, receiving bids for only 600 MW of solar capacity. The tender was issued on June 28, 2019, with a bid submission deadline of July 31, 2019. The bid submission deadline was extended on August 1, 2019, to August 9, 2019. The upper tariff ceiling was set at ₹2.65 (~$0.038)/kWh for this tender. The projects were slated to be developed anywhere in India.

As the tender was undersubscribed, only 80% of the bid capacity could be awarded in line with the tender condition. Therefore, only a capacity of 480 MW has been awarded out of the 1.2 GW capacity tendered.

The bid results show that out of the 480 MW, 150 MW has been allocated to GRT Jewellers at a tariff of ₹2.53 ($0.0353)/kWh and 330 MW has been allocated at a tariff of ₹2.65 ($0.037)/kWh to SB Energy.

As per the results, there is a ₹0.12 (~$0.0016) difference between the L1 and L2 bids which might be a challenge. Going by previous tender results, a wide difference between bids such as this is rarely accepted and the L2 bid is often asked to match the L1 bid.

The lowest tariff discovered in this auction is ₹0.01 (~$0.0001)/kWh lesser than that discovered in SECI’s previous solar auction for 1.2 GW held in June 2019.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, SECI has so far auctioned ~5.5 GW of solar projects under the ISTS program (I to V).

Of late, SECI has not been able to encourage developers to actively participate in its utility-scale tenders.

Recently, Mercom reported on SECI extending the bid submission deadline for three solar tenders with a total capacity of over 6 GW.

Shaurya is a staff reporter at MercomIndia.com with experience working in the Indian solar energy industry for the past four years in various roles. Prior to joining Mercom, Shaurya worked with a renewable energy developer and a consulting company. Shaurya holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Management from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom.