NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, December 22, 2017

Get over the sunshine. Wind is now the cheapest source of renewable energy in India.

Auctions conducted in Gujarat on Dec. 21 discovered a record-low tariff of Rs2.43 a unit. That’s nearly 8% cheaper than the previous low of Rs2.64 that the industry saw in October. This tariff is also less than the lowest solar power tariff of Rs2.44 that the country recorded in May this year.

This new rate was quoted by Sprng Energy, a Pune-based renewables firm, which bid to set up a 197 megawatt (MW) wind farm in an auction held by the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam (GUVNL).

The crash in tariffs comes at the heels of a recent announcement by the Narendra Modi government that resurrected the Indian wind power market after nearly a year of stagnation. The country’s power ministry announced a slew of guidelines for state electricity utilities that want to procure wind power from independent producers. The norms cleared the way for different state governments to hold wind farm auctions. This is besides those conducted by the central government-run Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).

Photo courtesy of Dana Smillie.