Small and mid-sized renewable energy developers in India are increasingly bidding for solar power generation tenders, powered by freshly raised capital.
According to sources, the winner in the latest solar auction in the country was Rising Sun Energy, a small developer which bagged a 190MW project in an auction conducted by state-run power,
Rising Sun Energy, which quoted a tariff of Rs 2.25 per unit for projects to be built in Nokh solar park in Rajasthan, sources cited earlier and adding that the New Delhi-based company had beaten the competition from a mix of small, mid-sized and large renewable energy developers. The auction’s result winner was announced the last week.
Vinay Rustagi, managing director of Bridge to India, a renewable energy consultancy firm, said that, “we continue to see strong interest from some of the smaller developer who have raised a lot of money. They are eager to win new projects in order to deploy capital.”
Email queries have been sent to NTPC and Rising Sun Energy remained unanswered till as of press time.
The features of the Rajasthan auction could be likened to the one conducted three months ago by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), the nodal agency through which the renewable energy ministry conducts wind and solar auctions. Winners of that auction, too, have to build projects in Rajasthan. The winning tariff in the November auction was Rs 2 per unit. The main difference between the two auctions is that the SECI auction was for a non-solar park, which means that projects can be built anywhere in Rajasthan.
One reason for higher tariffs in the NTPC tender is that the cost of a solar park is typically 2-3 times higher than the total cost incurred by developers for land and transmission outside solar parks.
Tariffs are expected to continue moving upwards because module prices have been on the rise since the middle of last year. Modules account for 45-55% of the project’s cost.
“They expect a bit of caution in the short-term. Module prices have moved up by 15-20% in the last few months. It may be some time before the two rupee tariff is breached again,” Rustagi said.
Solar tariffs reached a record-low of Rs 1.99 per unit in an auction conducted by Gujarat in December 2020.
