Gujarat State Electricity Corporation (GSECL), Rajpur Renewables (EDF Renewables), Juniper Green Energy, Solarcraft Power India 3 (Blupine Energy), TEQ Green Power XII (O2 Power), ACME Pokhran Solar, and Project Twelve Renewable Power (Ayana Renewable Power), were declared winners in Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam’s (GUVNL) auction to purchase power from 500 MW of grid-connected wind power projects (Phase-III).

The tender also came with a greenshoe option for an additional capacity of up to 500 MW.

GSECL won 70 MW at a tariff of ₹2.84 (~$0.036)/kWh and EDF Renewables, 30 MW at ₹2.98 (~$0.037)/kWh. Juniper Green Energy won 40 MW at ₹3.04 (~$0.038)/kWh, and Blupine Energy, 100 MW at ₹3.05 (~$0.038)/kWh.

Also, O2 Power won 70 MW by quoting ₹3.17 (~$0.040)/kWh and ACME Pokhran Solar 50 MW for ₹3.26 (~$0.041)/kWh.

Ayana won 140 MW capacity out of the bid capacity of 200 MW by quoting ₹3.27 (~$0.041)/kWh.

The tender was floated in May this year.

GUVNL will enter into power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the successful bidders for 25 years from the scheduled commercial operation date of the project or the date of full commissioning of the project, whichever is earlier.

Only certified wind turbine models listed in the Revised List of Models and Manufacturers (RLMM) prepared by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) will be allowed for these projects.

The projects should be designed for interconnection with the state transmission utility or the central transmission utility through a dedicated transmission line to deliver energy at the Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation (GETCO) periphery.

The successful bidders will have to declare the annual capacity utilization factor (CUF) of the project at the time of signing of PPA, and the same will be allowed to be revised once within the first three years. The declared annual CUF should not be less than 22%. The successful bidders should maintain generation to achieve annual CUF within +20% and -20% of the declared CUF during the PPA duration of 25 years.

If for any year, it is found that the successful bidder has not been able to generate minimum energy as per the permissible lower limit of annual CUF declared by them, they will be liable to pay the compensation at 50% of the tariff to GUVNL.

The lowest tariff of ₹2.84 (~$0.036)/kWh discovered in this auction is higher by nearly 17% compared to the lowest wind tariff so far of ₹2.43 (~$0.030)/kWh discovered in GUVNL’s wind auction in December 2017. The increase in tariff bodes well for wind developers who are facing challenges on various fronts.

In 2019, the lowest tariff of ₹2.80 (~$0.0355)/kWh was discovered in GUVNL’s auction for 1,000 MW of grid-connected wind power projects (Phase-II R).

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