NTPC's solar tender in India oversubscribed by 4.2 GW - report

A tender for 2-GW of interstate transmission system (ISTS)-connected solar projects across India resulted in bids as low as INR 2.59 (USD 0.037/EUR 0.033) per kWh, Mercom Capital reports.

The tender was initiated by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in March and was oversubscribed three times, attracting 6.2 GW of proposals. The selected projects will be developed on a build, own, operate basis and will be installed at various sites across the country.

The lowest bid in the auction was launched by Acme Solar Holdings Pvt Ltd for 600 MW of the overall capacity. The same price was offered by industrial conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji Group, which bid for 500 MW of projects, and Azure Power (NYSE:AZRE) with 300 MW. Japan’s SB Energy Corp, the renewable energy arm of SoftBank Corp (TYO:9984), bid for the entire 2-GW capacity but secured only 600 MW at INR 2.60 per kWh.

“Bidding continues to be aggressive and this tariff will set a precedent going forward for other auctions coming up post safeguard duty imposition,” said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group.

NTPC allowed bidders in the tender to revise and resubmit bids in the tender after last month the Indian government imposed a 25% safeguard duty on solar cell and module imports from China and Malaysia.

(INR 10 = USD 0.143/EUR 0.126)

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