Auction for 21 GW solar, wind capacity by March: Minister

New Delhi, Nov 24: The government will invite bids for creating capacity of up to 21 gigawatt (GW) of solar and wind power by March 2018, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy R.K Singh said on Friday.

He was announcing the Centre’s third wind power auction scheme by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

“The Ministry will put up for auctions 3-4 GW wind power capacities during the third and fourth rounds by March 2018. Each round will be of 1.5-2 GW each,” he said.

The government has already auctioned two GW wind capacities through the first and second rounds this year.

According to Singh, who also holds the power portfolio, India will easily achieve 200 GW renewable energy capacity by 2022, as against the targeted 175 GW. In order to meet the target of 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022, the government has decided to auction 30 GW solar capacities each during 2018-19 and 2019-20.

Asked about the competition from cheaper Chinese solar equipment imports, Singh said: “We will think about imposing customs duty on solar equipment once we develop our domestic manufacturing capacity.”

Last month, the government announced that wind power tariffs in India have dropped to a record low of Rs 2.64 per unit, discovered through the auction of 1,000 MW projects by the state-run Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).

“Wind tariff in India touched the lowest of Rs 2.64 per kWh (kilowatt hour) in the second wind auction conducted by SECI,” an MNRE statement here said.

“The tariff discovered is much lower than first wind auction concluded at Rs 3.46 per kWh in February,” it said. (IANS)