It’s not just oil that is on a slide. While globally crude has slid some 70% in the last year-and-ahalf, solar power tariffs have sunk to a new low of Rs 3 per unit – the same as average cost of power from state-run NTPC’s coal-fired plants.
The new record came from Gurgaon-based Amplus Energy Solutions in a Solar Energy Corporation of India’s auction of rooftop solar power projects and beats the previous low of Rs 4 per unit for a solar park in Rajasthan by a quarter. The rooftop projects will be installed on buildings of NGOs, educational institutes, hospitals, trusts and notfor-profit companies in these states.
The lowest tariff quote for these projects is same as average tariff offered by state-run generation utility NTPC for power from its coal-fired plants and nearly half of tariffs charged by some private power producers.
Till now, a solar project at Badhla in Rajasthan held the record for the lowest tariff at Rs 4 per unit in the solar park category. The lowest tariff before that was Rs 4.34 per unit, quoted by Fortum India in January for one of the six packets of 70 MW (420 MW total) each bid out by state-run generation utility NTPC for an earlier phase of the Bhadla solar park.
SunEdison was the first to pull down solar power tariffs below the Rs 5 per unit-mark by quoting a tariff of Rs 4.63 per unit for a project in Andhra Pradesh. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Amplus said the Rs 3 per unit tariff will apply to grid-connected rooftop projects in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Puducherry. Similar projects in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra will get solar power at Rs 5.56 per unit. For Rajasthan, the tariff will be Rs 5.38 a unit, The price for Haryana will be Rs 5.76 and Punjab will be Rs 6.20 per unit.
