Acme, Inox likely to exit green projects won at lowest tariffs
NEWDELHI: Acme Group and Inox Group that bid the country’s lowest solar and wind tariffs respectively this year now plan to exit the projects, said several people aware of the development.
Inox Wind Infrastructure Services Ltd bid ₹3.46 per kilowatthour (kWh) to win a 250 megawatt (MW) wind power contract in a 1 gigawatt (GW) tender by staterun Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) in February. Acme Solar Holdings Pvt Ltd placed a winning bid of ₹2.44 per kWh in May to set up 200MW capacity at the Bhadla solar park in Rajasthan in another auction also conducted by SECI.
The NDA government has set up an ambitious clean energy target of 175GW by 2022. Of this, 100GW is to come from solar projects and 60GW from wind.
“With Chinese solar module prices firming up, Acme is exploring an exit. Inox is also trying to exit with a sale condition precedent which involves the acquirer to use Inox Group’s wind turbines. These can be structured transactions,” said a person aware of the development requesting anonymity.
Rising prices of Chinese solar modules may arrest the sharp decline in Indian solar power tariffs and also put at risk projects that won licences betting on the continued decline in module prices, Mint reported on July 19.
Any solar module price increase will impact the internal rate of return (IRR) with the power purchase agreements (PPAs) already being inked. Module prices account for 60% of a solar power project’s total cost and are around $0.37 per watt.
The $3-billion Inox Group in March announced the sale of its operating wind power farm assets to Leap Green Energy Pvt Ltd. Also, Russia’s Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corp is exploring an investment in Inox Group’s wind turbine manufacturing business with a 1,600-MW capacity.
While Mytrah Energy (India) Ltd, Green Infra Ltd, and global private equity fund Actis Llp’s platform Ostro Kutch Wind Pvt. Ltd were the others who bid ₹3.46 per kWh to win the wind energy contracts, SBG Cleantech Ltd bid ₹2.45 per kWh to develop 300MW capacity at Bhadla.
“If the deals fructify the acquirer will complete the projects,” said another person aware of the plans requesting anonymity.
Queries emailed to the spokespersons of Acme Group, Inox Group and the ministry of new and renewable energy on Wednesday remained unanswered till press time.
Any deal if concluded will have to meet the tender bid conditions.
“This has not come to our knowledge. Bid guidelines have got explicit timelines which have to be met,” said a person involved in devising and running India’s solar park bid process.