SJVN Limited, a joint venture between the central government and the government of Himachal Pradesh, has won a 100 MW solar project in the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited’s (GUVNL) auction. The projects are to be set up at the Raghanesda Solar Park in Gujarat (Phase-X). SJVN quoted a tariff of ₹2.64 (~$0.036)/kWh for the 100 MW capacity.

In March this year, GUVNL reissued tenders to purchase 800 MW of solar power from grid-connected solar projects at the Dholera and Raghanesda Solar Parks in the state. The first tender was for 700 MW of solar projects (Phase IX-R) to be set up at the 1 GW Dholera Solar Park. The second tender was for developing a 100 MW solar project (Phase X-R) at the Raghanesda Solar Park.

Speaking on about the auction, an official from SJVN had said, “We quoted tariffs lower than what we did last time. BCD hasn’t been factored as we plan to procure the modules by March 2022, before the BCD is effective.”

In the auction for the 100 MW capacity that was held in September last year, SJVN was declared the winner for the 100 MW capacity with a quoted tariff of ₹2.73 (~$0.037)/kWh.

Later in February this year, the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission allowed GUVNL to cancel the 700 MW solar auction at Dholera Solar Park and retender it to identify a lower tariff for the projects. It also allowed GUVNL to retender its 100 MW solar auction for projects at Raghanesda Solar Park for the same reason following a petition by SJVN.

Developers were not happy with this move since the tender was scrapped over five months after the auction was concluded and letters of award were issued.

SJVN Limited, Tata Power, TEQ Green Power, and Vena Energy Renewables – the winners of the 700 MW auction – filed petitions with the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL), seeking relief following GUVNL’s decision to reissue its 700 MW solar tender. The developers had given GUVNL the option to keep bids valid for one week until APTEL decided.

In response, the APTEL directed the GUVNL to extend the validity of bids placed by developers in its scrapped 700 MW solar auction by two weeks. It also directed the state distribution company (DISCOM) not to allocate the capacities awarded to the developers to third parties if it decided to float the 700 MW tender again.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, GUVNL has tendered 6.5 GW of solar projects under Phase I-XII and has auctioned about 4 GW of projects under Phase I-XII.