Wind Power Is Now The Cheapest Energy In India

Wind power tariffs fell to their lowest and below the cheapest solar tariffs in the fourth round of auction. 

(Photo Courtesy : Reuters)

Wind power tariffs fell to their lowest and below the cheapest solar tariffs in the fourth round of auctions putting more pressure on turbine makers as developers are expected to negotiate already-falling equipment prices.

State-run Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd auctioned 500-megawatt of grid-connected projects at as low as Rs 2.43 a unit.

That was quoted by Actis-backed Spring Energy that bid for 197.5-megawatt capacity and KP Energy that won 30 MW. That’s lower than the lowest solar power tariffs of Rs 2.44 a unit discovered in May and 8 percent lower than wind power prices discovered in earlier national auctions in October, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

A decline in auction tariffs will put the manufacturers under even more pressure to innovate and meet the price expectations of developers, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said.

Falling tariffs may lead to discovery of even lower bids in the national wind auctions scheduled for January, it added.

India aims to auction 28-gigawatt wind projects by March 2020 to take it closer to the total targeted capacity of 60 GW by 2022.

That’s part of the plan to install 175 GW renewable energy capacity by 2022.

Verdant Renewables, Betal Wind Energy, and Powerica were the second lowest bidders with a tariff of Rs 2.4 per unit and won orders for capacities of 100 MW, 29.9 MW, and 50 MW respectively. The third lowest bidder was Renew Power Ventures Pvt which quoted Rs 2.45 a unit for 200 MW capacity.

This is the fourth round of auction held for wind power projects since February when the Centre introduced bidding in the wind sector.

The first tender of 1,000 MW by state-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India was issued at Rs 3.46 per unit. In August, Tamil Nadu hosted its first wind auction in which the tariff discovered was at Rs 3.42 per unit.

It fell further to Rs 2.64 in the second bidding held in October. Auction tariffs have declined nearly 8 percent since October, BNEF said.

(The story was published in arrangement with BloombergQuint)

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