Gujarat gets 1.9 GW of bids in oversubscribed tender - report

The 500-MW solar tender of India’s Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) was oversubscribed by almost four times, attracting 1,925 MW of proposals, Mercom Capital reports.

The utility has received technical bids from 13 project developers, according to one of the participants. India’s Azure Power (NYSE:AZRE) took part with the biggest proposal for a 500-MW project, followed by Avaada with 300 MW and Aditya Birla with 250 MW. Among the other developers that launched bids as part of the tender are Adani Group with 200 MW, Finland’s Fortum (ETR:FOT), UPC Solar and Tata Group, each of them offering 50 MW.

The CEO of Aditya Birla, Ravi Khanna, told the consultancy that the tendered capacity is the same sought under a recently cancelled auction for grid-connected projects in the state. In April, GUVNL scrapped a 500-MW solar auction as the prices offered by bidders were too high, with the lowest bid standing INR 2.98 (USD 0.041/EUR 0.036) per kWh. A company official explained at the time that the decision of the utility’s board was based on the uncertainty regarding the safeguard duty on solar panel imports and an assumption that developers have been calculating a safeguard duty in their offers.

The lowest tariff seen in the Indian solar market is INR 2.44 per kWh, received in May 2017 in a 500-MW tender in Bhadla, Rajasthan.

(INR 10 = USD 0.138/EUR 0.120)

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