Azure Power has won bidding for the construction of a 130MW solar plant, in an auction conducted by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL).
Image: Azure Power will sign a 25 year power purchase agreement (PPA) with MSEDCL. Photo courtesy of Joe Zlomek/Freeimages.com
MSEDCL supplies electricity about 22 million customers in the state of Maharashtra. The state was declared as a load shedding-free state in December 2012.
Azure Power will sign a 25 year power purchase agreement (PPA) with MSEDCL, at a tariff of INR2.72 ($0.04) per kWh. This project is expected to be commissioned next year.
Azure Power founder, chairman and CEO Inderpreet Wadhwa said: “We are pleased to announce our win in Maharashtra and with this, we continue to demonstrate our strong project development, engineering, and execution capabilities and are delighted to make this contribution towards realization of our Prime Minister’s commitment towards clean and green energy, through solar power generation.”
In March and April, the company secured contracts totaling 130MW and 200MW, respectively. The 130MW includes 100MW utility scale project to be located in Karnataka and a 30MW rooftop project with Indian Railways.
The Karnataka solar project was offered by the state government of Karnataka through Karnataka Renewable Energy Development.
The 200MW portfolio in April was awarded in the state of Gujarat by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL). Azure Power stated that it will sign a 25 year PPA with GUVNL to supply the power generated from the solar plant.
The company stated: “Azure Power has been among the most active participants in several solar power auctions since the launch of the solar power market in India and the majority of the Company’s portfolio are with customers that have some of the best credit ratings in India and are backed by the sovereign Government of India.”
Recently, the company stated that it has surpassed 1GW of operating capacity in the country, after it installed a 50MW project in Andhra Pradesh.
The company is being backed up by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), one of the pension funds in Canada, International Finance Corporation (IFC) the investment division of the World Bank.