Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power are overtaking the conventional sources of energy in India. This is clearly evident in the falling power tariffs in auctions and an increasing number of alternative power plants being built across the country.
Wind power tariffs in India declined to a record low of INR2.64 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in an auction conducted by state-run Solar Energy Corp. of India for 1 gigawatt (GW) of wind power contracts. ReNew Power Ventures and Orange Sironj Wind Power bid INR2.64 per kWh to win contracts for 250MW and 200MW each.
Similarly, solar power tariffs in India fell to an all-time low of INR2.44 per unit in May 2017 during an auction for a 500MW power plant at Bhadla in Rajasthan. It had the viability gap funding component, as per the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy data. Similarly, in another auction of state-run power giant NTPC for 250MW capacity, the tariff was INR3.14 per unit. But it dropped again with viability gap funding to INR2.47 per unit and INR2.48 per unit for 500 MW Bhadla-III and 250 MW Bhadla-IV auctions in December 2017.
These power tariffs are lower than the average rate of power generated by coal-fuelled projects of India’s largest power generation utility, NTPC Ltd at INR3.20 per unit. The price gap between electricity generated from thermal, solar and wind projects has been bridged. This is primarily due to the production costs of solar PV modules falling by 80% and wind turbine generators declining 20% over the past five years.
17 March 2018 | Source: Livemint
