Solar Tariffs Hit A Record Low Of Rs.2.44 A Unit For A Second Time

Solar Tariffs reached an all time low of Rs.2.44 per unit once again in a 2000MW auction conducted by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). With this, it might be safe to call time on any further drop to new lows, as the industry seeks to stay in rational pricing territory.

The last time the tariff fell to this price was in May 2017 during another auction conducted by SECI for projects at the Bhadla Solar National Park. However, the prices had been climbing significantly in subsequent auctions, reaching up to Rs.3.54 per unit in an 860 MW auction across different talukas of Karnataka, held by the Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL) in February this year.

Acme Solar, one of the biggest domestic solar developers, with around 1700 MW of commissioned solar projects, won 600 MW with this bid. The other winners at the auction were Shapoorji Pallonji, who won 250 MW bidding Rs.2.52 per unit, along with Azure Power, Hero Solar and Mahindra Susten, all three of who bid Rs.2.53 per unit. Azure Power won 600 MW, while Hero and Mahindra got 250 MW each. The remaining 50 MW was awarded to Mahoba Solar at Rs.2.54 per unit. All 2000 MW of the projects are to be connected directly to the Inter State Transmission System (ISTS).

The fall in prices is attributed to China’s  “2018 Solar PV Power Generation Notice”, as India accounts for 31% of China’s export. Due to China’s previous rise in costs, the tariffs in India also saw an increase, however as predicted the solar tariffs have yet again fallen to an all-time low with the price of the modules being exported from China being really cheap.

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