Indian firms Adani and Azure Power have won 50MW solar capacity each in the state of Andhra Pradesh, in an auction with local content rules, according to consultancy firm Mercom Capital Group.
Solar Energy Corporation of India’s (SECI) 100MW auction for the Ananthapuramu solar park included a Domestic Content Requirement (DCR), which mandates winning developers to use solar equipment sourced from within India.
The benchmark tariffs for this tender were still set at INR 4.43/kWh (US$0.065). however, benchmark tariffs in SECI tenders are due to reduce in any state that has already seen tariffs go below 4.50 rupees in other tenders.The projects are expected to be commissioned towards the end of the FY2017.
The auction came under the National Solar Mission (NSM) phase II, batch III, tranche IV. Of the 2,510MW set for phase III, Mercom said that 200MW of DCR and 2,195MW of open category projects have been auctioned to date.
One year ago, Both Azure Power and Adani won out in another DCR tender for 150MW in the same state. Adani is also close to fully completing its 1.2GW solar equipment fab by April 2017.
By Baishakhi Dutta
