Solarcraft Power India 2 (Blupine Energy), Solairedirect Energy (Engie), Tata Power Renewable Energy, and Utkrrisht Solar Energy (UPC Renewables) are the winners in Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam’s (GUVNL) auction to procure power from 750 MW of grid-connected solar projects with a greenshoe option of an additional capacity of up to 750 MW (Phase XVI).

Blupine won 120 MW quoting ₹2.49 (~$0.031)/kWh, and Engie won 200 MW at ₹2.50 (~$0.032)/kWh. Tata Power won 300 MW quoting ₹2.65 (~$0.033)/kWh. UPC Renewables won 130 MW out of the quoted capacity of 280 MW at ₹2.66 (~$0.034)/kWh.

The discovered tariff of ₹2.49 (~$0.031)/kWh is 8% higher than the bid of ₹2.30 (~$0.029)/kWh, discovered in GUVNL’s auction to develop 500 MW of solar projects with a greenshoe option of an additional capacity of up to 500 MW (Phase XIV). Aditya Birla, Hinduja Renewables Energy, and SJVN were the winners.

The lowest-ever price discovered in GUVNL’s solar auction was ₹1.99 (~$0.025)/kWh in December 2020 for 500 MW of solar projects (Phase XI). This tariff was quoted by NTPC, Torrent Power, Al Jomaih Energy and Water Company, and Aditya Renewables.

GUVNL intends to procure solar power to fulfill its renewable power purchase obligation (RPPO) and meet the requirements of distribution companies (DISCOMs).

The tender was floated in July this year.

The tender specified that only commercially established and operational technologies can be used to minimize the technology risk and achieve the projects’ timely commissioning. Projects under construction and not having any PPA with existing buyers were also eligible to participate in the tender.

Solar projects will be allowed to be set up in the existing wind farms already connected to the grid, subject to the availability of spare capacity for renewable energy integration at the corresponding Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation (GETCO) substation.

The minimum project capacity should be 25 MW.

The project should be designed to deliver energy at the GETCO periphery. The grid interconnection of the project with the state transmission utility (STU) or the central transmission utility (CTU) substation can be made directly through a dedicated line or a pooling substation of an existing wind farm.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, GUVNL has floated tenders for 8.15 GW of solar projects.