Norway headquartered energy company Scatec has expanded its international presence by formally announcing its entry into the Indian solar market, in partnership with local solar project developer ACME. To ensure its entry, Scatec has acquired a 50% stake in ACME's 900 MW solar power plant in Rajasthan.
The $400 million project, for which 75% debt financing is set to come from an Indian state-owned lender, will have ACME acting as the turnkey EPC provider, while Scatec will ensure delivery according to international standards, ensuring health, safety, security and environment (HSSE), E&S, and optimization of engineering, procurement and operations of the plants.
The 900 MW project is contracted to supply power generated to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for 25 years, after ACME won the project in a 2018 competitive auction conducted by the national agency. It is expected to enter construction in 2021 and on completion in 2022 will generate close to 1,600 GWh annually.
In its statement, Scatec called India a key market for years to come as it grows 15 GW total capacity in operation or under construction by 2025-end, from more than 3.5 GW it has currently (see $11.7 Bn Expansion Plans For Scatec).
"We have already established presence on the ground and are positioning for future tenders within solar, wind and hybrids," said Scatec CEO Raymond Carlsen. "We see opportunities to offer various large-scale solutions across technologies in India, both based on federal and state tenders, as well as through entering into direct PPAs with corporate off-takers."
ACME previously made headlines in May 2017 when it won a 200 MW project in Rajasthan for an all-time low record tariff, back then, of INR 2.44 per kWh (see ACME Wins 200 MW At 2.44 INR Record). Quoting similar tariff in August 2018 under a 3 GW auction by SECI, ACME won 600 MW capacity. Later in May 2020, the company cited force majeure events including COVID-19 to terminate power purchase agreements for 600 MW solar project having INR 2.44 per kWh tariff (see ACME Solar Wants To Scrap 600 MW Project).
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