SECI conducted another e-auction for 2,000 MW of wind power projects on 6 April 2018. Winning bids were INR 2.51 – 2.52/kWh, just marginally higher than the tariffs discovered in the previous 2,000 MW SECI auction (2.44 – 2.45) held in February 2018. Winning bidders include an even spread of international and Indian names. International winners include Continuum (250 MW), Sprng (300 MW), BLP (285 MW) and Engie (200 MW). Indian winners include Inox (100 MW), Adani (300 MW), Mytrah (300 MW) and ReNew (265 MW).

These projects will be connected to national grid. SECI will sign 25-year PPAs with developers and back to back Power Sale Agreements (PSAs) with DISCOMs across non-windy states. The project commissioning timeline is 18 months from the date of signing PPA.

So far, 6,000 MW of wind capacity has been auctioned by SECI alone in the past one year. All these projects will have Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) connectivity. NTPC has also issued a similar 2,000 MW tender, for which bid submission is expected by 25 April 2018.

With 7,500 MW of wind capacity tendered (by SECI, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Maharashtra) and 4,000 MW capacity tenders in pipeline, wind sector is expected to pick up pace in 2018 and 2019. MNRE has planned to auction a further 20 GW of wind projects by March 2020. Wind tariffs have gradually settled down around INR 2.50/kWh (40-60% lower than state feed-in tariffs) and are expected to remain stable in the upcoming auctions.