Several reverse acutions organised in Gujarat state of India have been undersubscribed since the beginning of the year. Reportedly the low response is due to the low ceiling prices of the tenders. Indeed, power capacity available within several reverse auction processes organised by the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) company have not been fully distributed. The 1,000 MW solar tender for the Dholera Solar Park received only 300 MW in bids after it had its deadline extended four times due to lack of bids. The second attempt to auction the 700 MW Raghanesda Solar Park (Banaskantha district) received 600 MW in bids. The first tender held back in December 2018 received 1,250 MW in bids at a INR2.84/kWh (US$0.040/kWh) rate which was deemed too high by GUVNL. The 1,000 MW wind tender held by GUVNL was undersubscribed receiving 931.4 MW in bids.
Reportedly the low response is due to the low ceiling price of the tender. The Dholera tender had a ceiling tariff at INR2.75/kWh (US$3.9c/kWh) and the Raghanesda tender, INR2.70/kWh (US$3.8c/kWh).
This has been a trend recently as the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) also decided to extend the deadline for bids on the 1.2 GW wind-solar hybrid power projects tranche II tender as the auction was undersubscribed by almost 50%. Only four bids totalling 600 MW of capacity were placed: Adani Green Energy (250MW), Sprng Energy (100 MW), Renew Power (50MW) and Engie (200MW). The ceiling price for bids was INR2.7/kWh (US$3.8c/kWh), slightly lower than the rate set in the previous tender (INR2.85/kWh; US$4.0c/kWh) which had been oversubscribed by nearly 100%. Awarded projects will be built under a build-own-operate (BOO) basis with a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
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