In an auction conducted by Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) for 2 gigawatt (GW) of wind power, India’s wind power tariff firmed up to Rs2.44 per unit.
Torrent Power, Goldman Sachs-backed ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd, Singapore-based power producer Sembcorp Industries Ltd’s Green Infra Wind Energy Ltd and Inox Wind Infrastructure Services Ltd bid Rs2.44 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to win contracts for 499.80 megawatts (MW), 400 MW, 300 MW and 200 MW, respectively.
Adani Green Energy (MP) Ltd, Saudi Arabia’s Alfanar and Betam Wind Energy Pvt Ltd also bid Rs2.45 per unit to win contracts for 250 MW, 300 MW and 50.2 MW, respectively.
Wind power tariffs had plummeted to a record low Rs2.43 per kWh at an auction conducted by state-run Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd in December last year, beating the record low solar tariff of Rs2.44 per unit registered in May. These aggressive bids come at a time when concerns have been expressed over some states looking to renege on their offtake commitments for projects awarded at a comparatively higher tariff.
These tariffs are lower than the average rate of power generated by coal-fuelled projects of India’s largest power generation utility, NTPC Ltd, at Rs3.20 per unit. The price gap between electricity generated from thermal, solar and wind projects has been bridged. This is primarily due to costs of solar modules and wind turbine generators falling by 80% and 20%, respectively, over the past five years.