Commentary

India solar auction attracts 16 bids below 7c/kWh

Published by

A solar auction for 130MW of large-scale PV in the Indian state of Rajasthan has seen the winning bids return to extreme lows of (AUD) 8c/kWh (INR 4.35/kWh, USD 0.065) this week.

PV Tech reports that the auction, held by India’s largest utility, NTPC, was for capacity outside solar parks and the three successful players were all Indian firms – see table below.

The three bids come in just a touch higher than the lowest ever solar bid in India, which came from Finland’s Fortum Finnsurya Energy at a price of INR4.34/kWh – also for capacity in Rajasthan.

The world’s record lowest ever large-scale solar bid – below (USD) 3c/kWh ($US30/MWh) – was recorded in Dubai, in a May auction for 800MW of solar capacity.

As we reported here, the record low bid came from a consortium comprising Abu Dhabi renewable energy developer Masdar and Spanish developer FRV, which was acquired by Saudi Arabia’s Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ) group in 2015, and which has built two large-scale solar farms in Australia – the 20MW Royalla facility in the ACT and the 56MW Moree solar farm in NSW.

In the Rajasthan auction, the report notes that all 16 developers who bid in were willing to offer below five rupees per unit.

“This was an NTPC [auction] so it was expected that it would be aggressive,” said Jasmeet Khurana, associate director of consulting at Bridge to India.

However, Khurana said the bids were still slightly lower than expected.

Sophie Vorrath

Sophie is editor of Renew Economy and editor of its sister site, One Step Off The Grid . She is the co-host of the Solar Insiders Podcast. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.

Share
Published by

Recent Posts

Rio Tinto “farms out” smelter repowering as decarbonisation division gets the axe

The task of repowering the mining giant's Australian aluminium assets now lies with an executive…

23 March 2026

Pioneering community solar and battery project launches after “12 years of hard work”

One of Australia's pioneering community renewables projects is complete and will soon start generating power…

23 March 2026

“Serious breach of rules:” Regulator cracks down on non-compliant water heater installs

Environmental services provider ordered to rectify non-compliant water heater installations at its own cost as…

23 March 2026

State backs up wind contracting blitz with boost to local turbine tower manufacturing

Government pledges $2 million towards local industrial outfits bid to establish state's first domestic manufacturing…

23 March 2026

South Australia on path to 100 pct net renewables next year after Labor landslide and Liberal backflip

The downfall of the Liberals in South Australia problem affecting the party across the nation:…

23 March 2026

Diesel replacement: Australia’s billion-dollar opportunity to electrify, cut global fossil ties

Arguably, just phasing out the diesel fuel rebate – and just in the mining sector…

23 March 2026