India’s wind power is now cheaper than solar in India. The wind power tariff dropped to a record low of Rs. 2.43 per unit in an auction conducted by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) for 500 MW of wind power concluded today.
Last Month Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) received bids from 18 companies for 500 MW wind power project.
Earlier, technical and financial bids were scheduled to be opened on October 25 and November 1, respectively. However, the bidding was postponed after Gujarat high court stayed the auction acting on a petition filed by Indian Wind Energy Association (IWEA).
The association objected the competitive bidding process, stating that the central government had only issued draft guidelines for governing such wind energy auction, and it had not finalized any such guidelines. The high court this week turned down the petition by IWEA allowing the bidding process to continue. The high court, however, has restrained GERC from granting final approval to the process. In June this year, GUVNL had floated two separate tenders for procuring 500MW each from solar and wind power projects through competitive bidding, which was delayed more than twice due to various reasons.
After Central government has put in place detailed guidelines for wind power generators, GUVNL conducted the above auction.