Of the 1 GW solar capacity that was tendered in January 2019, the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) has now auctioned 250 MW of solar projects at Dholera Solar Park (Phase V).

According to a government official, both the bidders quoted a tariff of ₹2.75 (~$0.039)/kWh. Gujarat Industries Power Company Limited (GIPCL) bid ₹2.75 (~$0.039)/kWh to set up 50 MW of grid-connected solar PV projects while Tata Power quoted ₹2.75 (~$0.039)/kWh to set up 250 MW of solar PV capacity but was awarded only 200 MW.

As bids totaling 300 MW were submitted to it, GUVNL auctioned 80% of the capacity for which bids were submitted by rounding it off to 250 MW.

Tendered in January 2019, the upper tariff ceiling for this tender had been set at ₹2.75 (~$0.039)/kWh. Even after four bid extensions, the tender ended up being undersubscribed by 700 MW. The initial bid-submission deadline was set as February 15, 2019. This was postponed to February 25, 2019, and later, the GUVNL yet again postponed the bid-submission deadline to March 5, 2019. The last extension was provided in April 2019.

Since bidding adieu to coal-based power, this is the second tender in a row in which Tata Power has emerged as one of the winners. This time around, the presence of government-owned entity (GIPCL) did not lead to low tariffs being quoted and even GIPCL bid at the ceiling tariff. Both GIPCL and Tata Power had emerged as winners in GUVNL’s recently-concluded 700 MW solar PV auction.

The lowest tariff quoted in the Dholera auction is ₹0.10 (~$0.0014)/kWh more than the lowest tariff of ₹2.65 (~$0.038)/kWh quoted by Engie recently to develop a capacity of 200 MW for GUVNL’s 700 MW solar PV tender.