It’s not just oil that is on a slide. While globally crude has slid some 70% in the last year-and-a-half, solar power tariffs too have sank to a new low in India at Rs 4.34 per unit – a third of the going rates a few years back – for a project in Rajasthan.
The new low came in during the online bidding for a 750 mw solar power park being set up at Badhla near Jodhpur with viability gap funding (VGF) from Solar EnergyCorporation of India Ltd.
The latest quote is lower than the price of power from several thermal power plants built by private firms and slightly higher than tariffs offered by yet others. It is slightly higher than NTPC‘s tariff for thermal plants.
At a ballpark figure of Rs 6 crore per mw cost, the entire 420-mw project could take up an investment of Rs 4,500 crore.
The previous low of Rs 4.34 per unit had been quoted by Fortum India in January for one of the six packets of 70 mw (420 mw total) each bid out by state-run generation utility NTPC for the previous phase of the Bhadla solar park. Rays Power Infra and Solar Direct won two packets each, while the quote from Indiabulls for the sixth project had stood a tad higher at Rs 4.36 per unit.
Before that, Rs 4.63 per unit was the lowest that was offered by SunEdison and SB Energy for two projects of 500 mw and 350 mw, respectively, in Andhra Pradesh.
By Baishakhi Dutta
