India-based independent solar power producer Azure Power has won rights to develop 200MW solar project in Gujarat, a state in India.
The firm is due to sign a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam (GUVNL) at a tariff of INR3.06 (~$0.05) per kWh.
Azure Power said that the committed tariff is 25% above the lowest tariff of INR2.44 (~$ 0.04) in the Indian solar market.
The firm said that the new project brings the company’s portfolio with Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) to 470MWs, making it the largest solar power supplier to the state.
Azure Power plans to develop the project outside a solar park which is expected to be commissioned in 2019.
Azure Power founder, chairman and CEO Inderpreet Wadhwa said: “Winning this project is a historic milestone for us. We embarked on our mission to be a leading solar company with a 10MW project with GUVNL and as we celebrate our 10-year anniversary, this 200MW solar project win with GUVNL takes our portfolio capacity to over 470MWs, making us the largest solar power supplier to the state.”
Last month, Azure Power has won rights to develop a new 130MW of solar energy capacity in India.
The project includes a 100MW utility scale project at the Pavagada solar park in Karnataka and a 30MW solar rooftop project with Indian Railways.
For the 100MW project, Azure Power agreed to supply power to the electricity supply companies of Karnataka (ESCOMs) for 25 years at a tariff of INR2.93 (~$4.6 cents) per kWh.
Currently, Azure Power is operating a MW-scale distributed solar rooftop project in Gujarat’s state capital city, Gandhinagar.
By the end of 2022, the Indian government has set a target to have 175GW of installed renewable power. This includes 60GW from wind power, 100GW from solar power, 10GW from biomass power and 5GW from small hydro power.