Renewable

September 18 (Renewables Now) - A 500-MW solar tender by Indian utility Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) has seen bids as low as INR 2.44 (USD 0.034/EUR 0.029), which again matches the record low for Indian solar tariffs, first set in May 2017.

Citing a GUVNL official, Mercom Capital Group on Monday reported that the INR 2.44 per kWh tariff was quoted by Aditya Birla Renewables and Giriraj Renewables (Avadaa). Below is the list of winners based on Mercom's article. Azure Power bid for 500 MW, but was awarded 100 MW.

According to the official, the letter of award will be provided to the winners within a week.

The tender, which was a repeat of a 500-MW canceled auction, had attracted 1,925 MW of proposals, according to a previous Mercom report. Thirteen parties participated in the technical bidding and nine in the financial.

The consultancy commented that many of the bids did not show the impact of the safeguard duty.

The Indian government last week instructed customs authorities to start collecting the previously set safeguard duties on imported solar cells and modules from China and Malaysia. The move came after India's Supreme Court invalidated a stay order on the imposition of the 25% tariffs and means that the safeguard duty should be collected in line with an earlier notification from July when the duty was levied. The plan is for the 25% duty to be in effect between July 2018 and July 2019 and then be reduced to 20% for a six-month period. Then it will fall to 15% in the final six-month period ending on July 29, 2020.

(INR 100 = USD 1.375/EUR 1.177)