Wind tenders continue to draw little interest from developers including those from ‘navratna’ NTPC, whose latest tender, issued for the second time on Wednesday, drew no response.
NTPC first issued the tender of 1,200MW few days ago setting a ceiling tariff of Rs 2.85 per unit. When no developer showed interest, it revised the ceiling tariff to Rs 2.93 and issued the tender again. Even then, it did not draw a single bid. The tender closed on Wednesday.
The next bid submission date has not been announced yet, sources said.
“The issue isn’t the ceiling tariff,” an expert said requesting anonymity. “The supply chain is under serious crunch. Developers are factoring in land acquisition challenges and cost of debt. The risk perception in the market for funding wind projects doesn’t look good.”
Andhra Pradesh’s recent attempt to renegotiate signed wind and solar power purchase agreements (PPAs) has also dampened investor interest significantly.
NTPC did not respond to queries.
“If they were to go call for bids again, the situation will remain the same, there will not be any interest,” said the expert.
NTPC’s last wind tender, which was conducted in August last year, also has problems. It was a 1,200MW tender where winning tariffs were in the range of Rs 2.77-2.83 per unit. But the fate of around 800MW is uncertain as it has not been able to get regulatory approvals, due to which it has given the winners the option to withdraw altogether.
In the latest wind auction conducted by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), the nodal agency of the ministry of new and renewable energy responsible for conducting auctions, only two developers took part.
According to Bloomberg NEF’s forecast, India is expected to install 2.9GW in 2019 against 2.3GW in 2018. In 2016-17, 5.4GW was added, while 3.4GW was achieved in 2015-16.
