India’s leading renewable energy project developer, Adani Green Energy Limited, has announced that the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has annulled a recent 300 MW worth of solar tender it had won.

The tender was won by Adani’s subsidiary Mahoba Solar.

In a BSE filing made by Adani, the company said, “AGEL through its wholly-owned subsidiary Mahoba Solar (UP) Private Ltd had won a tender to set up 300 MW solar generation projects floated by SECI. The said tender has been annulled by the SECI.”

SECI has confirmed the cancellation of the auction though it is yet to issue an official notification.  Recently, some developers and government sources had told Mercom that the 3 GW Interstate Transmission System (ISTS)-connected solar auction was on the verge of being cancelled, barring the capacity won by the lowest bidder.  In the auction, ACME had emerged as the lowest (L1) bidder by quoting a tariff of ₹2.44 (~$0.0355)/kWh to develop 600 MW.

Prior to this, Mahoba Solar had another setback when the Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA) cancelled the auction for the development of 1 GW of solar projects across the state.

In this auction, Mahoba Solar (UP) Private Limited (Adani) had quoted the L1 tariff of ₹3.48 (~$0.050)/kWh to develop 250 MW of projects. Adani had quoted a single tariff for all of the project locations.

Speaking with Mercom, a source at Adani said, “The tenders have been cancelled because the rate was on the higher side compared to other states. This is the only reason for this cancellation.”

After this annulment, Adani has approximately 1,938 MW of solar projects in operation and nearly 340 MW in development, according to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker.

There have been numerous cancellations of auctions in the domestic solar sector lately. Government agencies are citing high tariffs as a reason for cancelling auctions even though developers have won projects based on the guidelines set by these agencies. It is unclear how developers can bid lower going forward considering the imposition of safeguard duty which is currently on hold due to a court stay order.

in April 2018, Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) had also scrapped its auction for the development of  500 MW of grid-connected solar projects in the state, again citing high tariffs quoted by developers.