Tariff Bids Rise Further In Indian State’s Solar Power Auction
Tariff bids by project developers continued to rise in Indian auctions, with several major developers avoiding large-scale auctions.
Tariff bids by project developers continued to rise in Indian auctions, with several major developers avoiding large-scale auctions.
Global energy behemoth ExxonMobil is reportedly in talks with an Indian company to initiate a partnership in the clean energy sector. The US-based company seems to have been attracted by the pro-clean energy policies in India and an increase interaction between Indian and American businesses over the last few years.
The share of India’s non-fossil fuel power generation technology continues to grow with the rapid rise in solar and wind energy capacity over the last few years.
For the first time in India’s history solar power generation cross the milestone of 10 terawatt hours in a quarter. The milestone is a testament to the rapid increase in India’s solar power capacity over the last few years given the strong emphasis of the government on promotion of renewable energy technologies.
Possible uncertainty related to general elections, regulatory delays, and a dearth of easy funding seems to have contributed towards India missing its 2018-19 renewable energy capacity addition target by 45%.
For the second time, India’s attempt at auctioning large solar-wind hybrid capacity failed as project developers submitted bids much lower than the offered capacity.
Project developers in India are unwilling to bid for large-scale solar and wind energy tenders, sounding alarms across government circles. The western state of Gujarat witnessed significant under-subscription of solar and wind energy tenders last week.
India’s coal-heavy thermal power generation sector left solar and wind energy sector behind in terms of new capacity added in the first quarter of this year. The decline in new capacity added in the renewable energy segment should ring alarm bells for the government as it seems to be falling behind its ambitious capacity targets for 2022.
Government-owned companies in India are steaming ahead with large-scale solar and wind energy tenders in order to help meet the now-ambitious looking installation targets of 175 gigawatts by March 2022.
Leading renewable energy generation companies are aggressively looking to expand their portfolios through inorganic means as minor players look to exit power plants in the face of increasing competition and unviable growth prospects.