IDFC Alternatives, the asset management arm of the infrastructure-focused lender, is in talks to buy First Solar’s 200 megawatts (MW) of renewable power assets in India in a deal potentially valued at around $200 million, two people aware of the development said.
According to Livemint, First Solar, a US-based photovoltaic (PV) panel maker and one of the first overseas companies to enter India’s solar energy market, counts the country as its second-largest market after the US in terms of total shipments.
The development comes in the backdrop of falling solar power tariffs because of plunging prices of solar modules. Module prices are expected to drop further in 2017 as global supply exceeds demand.
Most solar power developers in India have been sourcing solar modules and equipment from countries such as China where they are cheaper.
According to information available on its website, the infrastructure team of IDFC Alternatives has $1.8 billion under management.
The Indian solar power generation space is getting intensely competitive.
France’s Solairedirect SA won the rights to set up 250MW of solar plants at Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh and sell power to NTPC Ltd at a new record-low tariff of Rs3.15 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in an auction on Wednesday.
The previous low was Rs2.97 per kWh for a 750MW project at Rewa in Madhya Pradesh.
The winning bid offered a so-called levelized tariff—the value financially equivalent to different annual tariffs over the period of the power purchase agreement (PPA)—of around Rs3.30 per unit.
