The individual project capacities in the recently concluded 500 MW grid-connected solar PV auction held by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) have not been awarded yet as higher tariffs are under review by the board of directors.

When asked about the reason for delay, a GUVNL official told Mercom, “Tariffs quoted in this auction are way more than that quoted in the GUVNL 500 MW solar auction held last year. That is why the GUVNL board has been involved and they will take the final call.”

“After the L1 tariff of ₹2.98 (~$0.04579)/kWh was quoted in the auction, the matter is under consideration by GUVNL’s board of directors. The project capacities have not yet been awarded to the bidders in this auction,” the official added.

The GUVNL official also said, “Due to uncertainties in the solar sector, tariffs in this auction have been affected. The PPAs haven’t been signed yet, and the GUVNL board’s decision is a pre-requisite for us to go ahead in that direction”.

In the recently conducted auction, Kalthia Engineering and Construction had emerged as the lowest (L1) bidder by quoting a tariff of ₹2.98 (~$0.046)/kWh to develop 50 MW of grid-connected solar PV projects.

The L1 tariff quoted in this GUVNL auction was 12.5 percent (₹0.33 (~$0.005)/kWh) higher than the L1 tariff of ₹2.65 (~$0.0413)/kWh quoted by GRT Jewellers India Private Limited in the previous 500 MW auction held by GUVNL.

After the conclusion of the auction, one of Mercom’s sources at GUVNL had said, “Kalthia Engineering will develop 50 MW, GSECL 150 MW, ACME 100 MW and Azure Power will develop 200 MW.”

When contacted again, the same source told Mercom, “Back then, we thought the L1 tariff has been discovered and the auction has ended. At that point of time, it wasn’t known that the GUVNL Board of Directors will be involved and the process will take longer than expected.”

GUVNL had tendered the capacity in February 2018.

Image credit: By Chinneeb (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons