Solar tariffs rise 4% from record low in latest auction

New Delhi: Solar tariffs in India rose 4% from a record low in Wednesday’s federal auction, in which five companies won rights to build and operate 1.2 gigawatts of projects.

Ayana Renewable Power Pvt., ReNew Power Ltd. and Azure Power Global Ltd. won 300 megawatts each, while Mahindra Susten Pvt. scooped up 250 megawatts quoting  ₹2.54 a kilowatt-hour, according to state-owned Solar Energy Corp. of India, which conducted the auction. Avaada Energy Pvt. won 50 megawatts at  ₹2.55 a kilowatt-hour.

The price arrived at the auction was higher than the record low of  ₹2.44 a kilowatt-hour. A tariff ceiling of  ₹2.65 a kilowatt-hour was set for today’s auction.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has adopted auctions as the preferred method to achieve his target of 100 gigawatts of solar energy capacity by 2022. India had installed over 27 gigawatts of ground-mounted solar projects as of May-end.

Source: Live Mint