• SECI has determined four developers as winners of its 1.2 GW ISTS-VIII solar auction
  • SoftBank secured half of the capacity on offer followed by EDEN Renewable claiming 300 MW and AMP Energy Green 100 MW, all for INR 2.50 per kWh as the lowest bid
  • ReNew Power won 200 MW, even though it offered to build 600 MW, for the second lowest bid of INR 2.51 per kWh

Four successful bidders have emerged  in the 1.2 GW interstate transmission system (ISTS) tranche-VIII solar PV tender launched by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) in December 2019.

Of the winners, three offered the same lowest bid level of INR 2.50 ($0.0348) per kWh, according to Mercom India Research – these were SB Energy of SoftBank, AMP Energy Green, EDEN Renewable. They won 600 MW, 100 MW and 300 MW, respectively. Mercom says the SoftBank entity is SBE Renewables Fifteen Private Limited.

Both SoftBank and ReNew Power had offered to build 600 MW each, but while SoftBank won this capacity, the latter had to settle with 200 MW with a bid of INR 2.51 ($0.0350) per kWh. Tariffs for this solar tender were capped at INR 2.78 (0.03) per kWh.

The tender was oversubscribed with an aggregate of 3.5 GW bids coming in (see SECI’s 1.2 GW ISTS-VIII Solar Tender Oversubscribed). Mercom calculates that between ISTS tranche I to VIII, SECI tendered 12.2 GW and auctioned around 8.84 GW. 

Meanwhile, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has designated the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) as Renewable Energy Implementing Agency ‘so as to facilitate the application of connectivity and LTA in ISTS network’. LTA stands for long term access.