Sprng Energy, ib vogt, Hinduja Renewables, and Solarcraft Power India 9 (Blupine Energy) have won Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam’s (GUVNL) auction to supply power from 500 MW of grid-connected solar power projects (Tranche XVIII) with a greenshoe option of an additional 500 MW.

Sprng Energy won 200 MW by quoting ₹2.51 (~$0.031)/kWh. ib vogt, Hinduja, and Blupine won 130 MW, 120 MW, and 50 MW, respectively, at ₹2.52 (~$0.031)/kWh.

The discovered tariff of ₹2.51 (~$0.031)/kWh is just marginally higher than the bid of ₹2.49 (~$0.031)/kWh, discovered in GUVNL’s auction in September 2022, to develop 750 MW of solar projects with a greenshoe option of an additional capacity of up to 750 MW (Tranche XVI).

The lowest-ever price discovered in GUVNL’s solar auction was ₹1.99 (~$0.024)/kWh in December 2020 for 500 MW of solar projects (Tranche XI).

GUVNL intends to procure solar power to fulfill its renewable power purchase obligation and meet the requirements of distribution companies.

The tender was floated in October last year.

The projects can be commissioned anywhere in the country and should be of at least 25 MW capacity.

The developers must bear all the transmission charges and losses up to the delivery point for interstate and central transmission utility network-connected projects.

The project should be designed to deliver energy at the Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation (GETCO) periphery. The grid interconnection of the project with GETCO or the central transmission utility substation can be made directly through a dedicated line or a pooling substation of a wind farm where wind projects are also connected.

Only commercially established and operational technologies can be used to minimize the technology risk and achieve the projects’ timely commissioning. The modules to be used for the project should be from the approved list of models and manufacturers issued by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

Solar tenders floated by various agencies in India declined 32% quarter-over-quarter to 9.7 GW in the fourth quarter of 2022 from 14 GW. Tender announcements were, however, up by 56% year-over-year.

The quarter also witnessed a 50% QoQ dip in solar auctions, with 1.9 GW of capacity auctioned during the period. The capacity auctioned dropped 56% over the same period last year.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Tender Tracker, GUVNL has floated tenders for 11.5 GW of solar projects.