India’s wind energy tariff drops to all-time low

India’s wind power tariff has dropped to an all-time low of Rs 2.64 per unit, primarily due to a sharp fall in the cost of wind turbine generators as India moves from a feed-in tariff regime to tariff-based competitive auctions in the wind power sector.

In an auction conducted by state-run Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) for 1 gigawatt (GW) of wind power contracts that ended Thursday morning, ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd and Orange Sironj Wind Power Pvt. Ltd bagged contracts for 250 megawatts (MW) and 200 MW each at a bid of Rs 2.64 per kilowatt hour (kWh).

Inox Wind Infrastructure Services Ltd and Green Infra Wind Energy Ltd placed a bid of Rs 2.65 per unit and bagged contracts of 250 MW each.

These firms quoted the price at which they will sell electricity to win contracts under the tender that received demand for three times the grid-linked capacity being sold.

The price of Rs 2.64 per unit is lower than the average rate of power generated by coal-fuelled projects of NTPC Ltd, which stands at Rs 3.20 per unit.

In signs that India’s attraction as an emerging green economy continues, French energy firm Engie SA and Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Group entered into a joint venture with investment plans to the tune of $1 billion to build a 1,000MW wind power platform in India.

India has set a target of installing 175,000 MW of renewable energy by 2022. Of this, 100,000 MW is to be generated by solar projects and 60,000 MW by wind projects.

Newly appointed Power and New and Renewable Energy minister Raj Kumar Singh announced last month that he has instructed that 20,000MW each of wind and solar power contracts be auctioned by December.