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At a time when addition of coal-fuelled power generation capacity has come to a standstill globally, India is seeing a race to the bottom in solar power prices.

 

The latest was the record low tariff of Rs3.15 per kilowatt hour (kWh), quoted by France’s Solairedirect SA on 12 April to win the rights to set up 250 megawatt (MW) of solar plants at Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh and sell power to state-run NTPC Ltd. The tariff is expected to fall below Rs3 a unit during auctions for the Bhadla solar parks in Rajasthan.

 

The previous low was Rs3.30 per unit for a 750MW project at Rewa in Madhya Pradesh. These bids translate to below 5 cents per kWh and rank India at the sixth position globally in terms of the lowest tariff bid awarded. The world’s lowest solar tariff is in Chile (2.91 cents), followed by Dubai (2.99 cents) and Mexico (3.30 cents). The US (3.40 cents) and Saudi Arabia (4.80 cents) rank at the fourth and fifth places, respectively.

 

All the global majors are already in India’s solar space, be it Japan’s SoftBank, France’s Engie, Italy’s Enel, Canadian Solar or Singapore’s Sembcorp. Others in waiting include Norway’s Statoil ASA, France’s Total SA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, who are aggressively looking at ramping up their solar power project portfolio, with India as the focus area for investments.

 

ALSO READ: Green Investment Bank may invest in Lightsource India

 

India’s growing green economy has been fuelled by the government’s ambition around clean energy. India plans to generate 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2022. Of this, 100GW is to come from solar power projects. This vision was first articulated by then chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, at Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh in February 2014. In his speech, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) prime ministerial candidate said India should harness solar energy to bring about an “energy revolution” in the country.

 

“If we don’t protect the environment, then development will be in danger. Environment-friendly development desires non-renewable form of energy generation,” Modi had said.

 

After BJP assumed power, Piyush Goyal, minister of state with independent charge of mines, power, coal and new and renewable energy was tasked with the job of translating Prime Minister Modi’s vision into reality.

Source:Livemint.com