Solar tariff drops to record low of Rs 2.97/unit

Lower capital expenditure and cheaper credit pulled down solar tariff to a new low of Rs 2.97 per unit in an auction conducted for 750 MW capacity in Rewa Solar Park in Madhya Pradesh.
"India marches on towards realising the clean energy vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. First year solar tariff bids at record low of Rs 2.97/unit," Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted after the auction.
The auction was conducted by a joint venture of Madhya Pradesh government and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).
"The tariff has come down due to lower capital expenditure and cheaper credit. The per MW capital expenditure cost has come down to Rs 4 crore from earlier range of Rs 5-6 crore. Similarly, the interest rates have also slipped to 8.5 per cent from earlier 10-12 per cent," a senior official said.

"The first year tariff quoted by the companies are -- for Unit 1 - Rs 2.979 by Mahindra, for Unit 2 - Rs 2.970 by Acme and for Unit 3 - Rs 2.974 by Solenberg," the official added.
While Mahindra and Acme are Indian firms, Solenberg is a Brazilian company which participated in the auction for these solar capacities totalling 750 MW.

"There would be 5 paise escalation for 15 years and 33 paise to be added for the levelised tariff," the official added.
Last year in January, solar power tariff had dropped to a new low, with Finland-based energy firm Fortum Finnsurya Energy quoting Rs 4.34 a unit to bag the mandate to set up a 70-MW solar plant under NTPC's Bhadla Solar Park tender.

In November 2015, the tariff had touched Rs 4.63 per unit following aggressive bidding by US-based SunEdison, the world's biggest developer of renewable energy power plants.