`5/unit: NTPC bids find new low solar power tariff
NEW DELHI: Solar tariffs in India may have hit a new low. Power minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday tweeted that India has discovered a solar tariff of `4.80 per unit, its lowest ever, during the ongoing reverse e-bidding auction being conducted by stateowned NTPC Ltd.
“Delighted that solar tariffs in India have broken `5 per kWh level. NTPC has received bids of `4.8 per kWh through ongoing reverse e-bidding,” Goyal tweeted late on Tuesday evening. Kilowatt hour (kWh) is the retail unit of electricity. The lowest solar power tariff so far is `5.05, discovered in the July auctions conducted by the Madhya Pradesh government. Market sources said that two bidders — a joint venture between Softbank, Bharti and Foxconn, and Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) — were among the lowest bidders. “The bids will likely close at `4.79 (per unit),” a top executive of one of the bidders, who claimed his company was no longer in the race, told HT.
A Softbank spokesperson declined comment. FRV could not be immediately reached for comment. Softbank and partners, who are eyeing an investment of more than $20 billion (`in India’s solar sector have so far not won a single project.
An NTPC spokesperson said the bidding was likely to go on “for a few more hours.” The bidding is for a 500-MW project in Andhra Pradesh, under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, that would effectively generate 100 MW.
Solar power tariffs have steadily been falling in the last few years from more than `18 per unit just a few years back to under `5 per unit now.