Odisha solar auction did not witness as much rise in the tariff as it was expected after the imposition of safeguard duty. According to ET the winning tariffs in Tuesday’s solar auction in Odisha ranged between Rs 2.79 and Rs 3.20 per unit.
The Ministry of Finance on Monday imposed a 25% safeguard duty on imports of solar cells and modules from China and Malaysia and comes into effect from 30th July. More than 90% of the solar panels and modules are imported from both the countries for solar projects in India.
Vinay Rustagi, managing director at Bridge to India speaking to ET said “This tender allows pass-through of safeguard duty, but even then the low tariffs are a surprise because of lower irradiation and land acquisition challenges in the state.” He added “Direct discom offtake also poses relatively high risk for developers.”
DGTR recommended the imposition of 25% safeguard duty on solar cells and modules imported from these two countries for a year, followed by 20% for the next six months and 15% for another six months. DGTR’s recommendation was based on the fact that such imports were causing “serious injury” to domestic solar manufacturers.
Odisha’s solar tariff for 200 MW auction was lower than the solar tariffs at auctions conducted in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka before the imposition of safeguard duty.
According to the report the biggest winner was Aditya Birla Renewables that got 75MW at Rs 2.79 per unit, followed by Eden Renewable Varenne that got 50MW at Rs 3.19 per unit. Acme Solar won 30MW at Rs 3.20 per unit, while Sukhbir Agro and Gupta Power Infrastructure got 25MW and 20MW, respectively, both at Rs 3.19 per unit.