The fourth in India's series of wind-solar hybrid tenders for 1.2GW saw tariffs fall to INR 2,340/MWh ($32/MWh) – down 3% from the lowerst prices in the previous round.
State-owned thermal power producers the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and NLC India won 450MW and 150MW respectively at the lowest tariffs – a departure from the previous round, which was dominated by private companies.
Ayana Renewable Power, a part of UK investor CDC Group, also won 450MW at the same INR 2,340/MWh tariff.
Azure Power, one of the largest solar PV developers in India, offered the second lowest tariff of INR 2,350/MWh, securing 150MW.
The fourth 1.2GW wind-solar hybrid tender from the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) was announced in April 2021.
Like past tenders, the most recent auction stipulated that wind and solar must each make up at least 33% of the project’s total capacity.
The tender before that (SECI’s tranche 3) was awarded earlier this year, with a lowest tariff of INR 2,420/MWh ($33/MWh). It was fully subscribed by private power developers, with Adani Power (600MW) and Axis Energy (380MW) cornering the bulk of the capacity.
Unlike the tranche 3 tender, which was dominated by private developers, the most recent tender saw aggressive bidding by state-owned thermal power companies like NTPC and NLC India that together cornered half of the total capacity on offer.
The participation of the state-owned companies appears to be in response to the government’s announcement early this year to accelerate renewable capacity deployment through participation from public sector companies.
Another notable difference was the absence of Adani Green Energy, which has been a consistent winner in previous wind-solar hybrid tenders, securing 1,650MW across the first three rounds. It also recently won 450MW capacity in the latest wind-only tender.
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