• SECI announced the winners of 270 MW capacity for Odisha tender
  • 240 MW was won by Essel Green Energy, 20 MW went to IBC Solar Ventures India and 10 MW to Jyoti Infrastructure
  • All three bidders quoted the same reserve price set by SECI for the projects, $0.07 per kWh
  • Winners were selected on the basis of the lowest viability gap funding

India’s Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) announced results of the 270 MW tender that it has floated for the state of Odisha. The lion’s share has been given to Essel Infrastructure Ltd’s solar platform, Essel Green Energy.

Essel Green Energy has won 240 MW of the total 270 MW capacity, with Jyoti Infrastructure winning 10 MW and IBC Solar Ventures India bagging 20 MW capacity. According to a report in the Indian business newspaper The Economic Times, all the winning bidders stuck to the reserve price of 4.43 INR ($0.07) per kWh, that was set by SECI. In this case, winners were selected on the basis of the lowest viability gap funding (VGF) required by the bidders for these projects from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The three players Essel, IBC and Jyoti sought VGF of 4.95 million INR, 4.925 million INR and 4.915 million INR, respectively.

All the successful bidders will have to secure land on their own to develop these projects.

According to Economic Times, the capacity won by Essel is larger than its entire current solar power portfolio of 225 MW across 12 projects, out of which six have already been commissioned.

In March 2016, Dutch pension fund asset manager APG Asset Management along with India’s Piramal Enterprises Ltd jointly announced that the two will invest $132 million in Essel Infrastructure’s Solar IPP platform, Essel Green Energy. The Essel Group plans to have a total solar power capacity of 1,000 MW in the next two to three years.

The state of Odisha has a target of achieving a solar power capacity of 2,377 MW by 2022, when India plans to have 100 GW of grid connected solar power capacity nationally