After record drop in tariffs, auction activity picked up last month. In June, 1,359.77 MW of solar was tendered and 1.5 GW of solar was auctioned.

Compared to May 2017, in which over 2 GW of solar projects tendered and 755 MW auctioned, June saw a slight decline in capacity tendered, but the capacity auctioned was twice that of May.

Mercom previously reported that in May 2017, India witnessed the strongest auction and tender activity in quite some time after GST rates were clarified and bids fell to record lows.

Major Solar Tenders

The Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) tendered 500 MW of solar to be installed across the state of Gujarat to meet renewable purchase obligation.

To leverage the waiver of inter-state transmission charges, the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) tendered 500 MW of solar at Bhadla Phase-III Solar Park under National Solar Mission (NSM) Phase-II Batch-IV Tranche-XI and 250 MW of solar at Bhadla Phase-IV Solar Park under NSM Phase-II Batch-IV Tranche-XII.

Major Solar Auctions

The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) auctioned 1,500 MW of solar in June. The lowest tariff quoted was Rs.3.47 (~$0.05364)/unit.

In the second quarter of 2017, tender activity picked up. In two months, over 3 GW of solar has been tendered.