NEW DELHI: India’s first reverse auction for wind power saw tariff drop to a record low of Rs 3.46 a unit on Friday as companies bid aggressively despite an advisory issued by industry body to avoid bold bids. The winning bid, promising to produce wind power at Rs 3.46 per unit, was given by five companies — Mytrah Energy, Green Infra Wind Energy, Inox Wind Infrastructure Services, Ostro Kutch Wind and Adani Green Energy. These companies will now set up wind power capacity of 200 MW each, sources said.
The reverse auction was for firms to set up wind power capacity and the bid would go to those who quote the tariff to be charged from customers. In a reverse auction, the bid is won by the entity quoting the lowest price.
Bidding for the auction, conducted by state-run Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for 1 gigawatt (GW), had started on Thursday afternoon at Rs 4.47 a unit.
In the SECI tender, bidders were allowed to locate projects in the state of their choice and most opted for Tamil Nadu, followed by Gujarat. Apart from the winning bidders, the other bidders include Adani Green Energy, ReNew Power and Gamesa India. This bidding is seen as another major development for clean energy after solar power touched all-time low of Rs 2.97 per unit earlier this month for Reva solar Park.
“After solar cost reduction below Rs 3 per unit, wind power cost down to Rs 3.46 per unit through transparent auction. A green future awaits India,” tweeted Piyush Goyal, Union minister for power, coal, new and renewable energy responding after the auction.
India has set an ambitious target of having 60,000 MW of wind power capacity by 2022. The power from the 1,000 MW capacity auctioned now will be supplied to states that do not have adequate wind resources. According to wind energy experts, more than 90 percent of the nation’s wind energy development is in the six states including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.