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Adani Enterprises

750 Megawatt Solar Tender In India Subscribed 12 Times Over

written by saurabh

The appetite of solar power developers has not at all dwindled in the Indian market as a recent tender witnessed massive over subscription.

Two tenders for the development of 750 megawatts capacity in the western state of Rajasthan received overwhelming response from Indian and foreign companies. The tenders are for the development of 500 megawatts and 250 megawatts block at the Bhadla solar power park.

The 500 megawatt block is being built by IL&FS, an infrastructure and finance company. Adani Enterprises is developing the 250 megawatts block.

Some of the prominent Indian companies vying the project include Torrent Power, Aditya Birla Group, Adani Enterprises, Mahindra Renewables, Welspun Energy, Indiabulls, Hero Group, ReNew Power Ventures, Acme Cleantech, Azure Power and Mytrah Energy.

A number of foreign companies also placed bids, including EDF Energy, Solairedirect (a subsidiary of Engie), Alfanar of Saudi Arabia, Fortum, SB Energy (backed by Softbank) and Lightsource.

Fortum recently commissioned a 70 megawatt project at the Bhadla solar power park. The project was awarded to it at Rs 4.34/kWh, the lowest at that time, in an auction organised by NTPC Limited.

The financial bids for these blocks are expected to be extremely competitive and would likely result in a new low for the Indian market. Solar power bids in India have fallen by 73% since 2010 when the first auctions were held.

Recently, the 750 megawatt auction for Rewa solar power park in Madhya Pradesh closed at a levelised tariff of Rs 3.30/kWh. This was quickly topped by the another auction held for 250 megawatt block in the Kadapa solar power park in Andhra Pradesh. The tender closed at Rs 3.15/kWh tariff for a period of 25 years.

04/24/2017 0 comment

Renewable Energy

India’s Solar Module Production Tops 5,000 Megawatts

written by saurabh

India’s solar module production has crossed 5,000 megawatts according to the latest information shared by manufacturers with the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy.

The total capacity of installed solar module production lines increased from 5,848 megawatts on 30 June 2016 to 8,113 megawatts on 31 December 2016, a 23% increase. The total number of companies into the business of module manufacturing has also increased from 94 to 104 during the six months.

The largest installed capacity of module production line is owned by Mundra Solar, part of the Adani Group. At 1,200 megawatts the company commands a share of 15%. However, Mundra Solar is expected to start production of modules by March this year.

The utilisation of installed capacity has reduced from 74% as on 30 June to 65% as on 31 December 2016. Capacity utilisation could again jump to 80% as soon as Mundra Solar starts production next month.

Encouragingly, three module manufacturers that jointly have the second largest installed production lines for solar modules have 100% capacity utilisation. These are Emmvee Photovoltaics, Vikram Solar and Waaree Energies, each having installed capacity of 500 megawatts.

Solar cell production capacity also increased during these six months from 1,468 megawatts to 2,953 megawatts with Mundra Solar once again making a massive contribution of 1,200 megawatts in the installed capacity. Due to the non-operationalisation of Mundra Solar, the solar cell production could increase from 1,123 megawatts to just 1,448 megawatts by 31 December 2016. The capacity utilisation thus dropped from 76.5% to 49%.

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02/12/2017 0 comment

Renewable Energy

At 1,200 Megawatts, Adani Group Has India’s Largest Solar Cell, Modules Production Line

written by saurabh

Adani Group, one of the leading industrial conglomerates in India, is ready to start production at the country’s largest solar cell and module manufacturing line.

The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has reported that Mundra Solar, part of the the Adani Group, has commissioned 1,200 megawatts of solar cell and 1,200 megawatts of solar module production line. As per the information shared by the company with the ministry as on 31 December 2016, the production lines are ready but actual production is yet to begin.

The ministry seems to be taking stock of the solar cell and module production capacity every six months now. The last report stated data as on 30 June 2016. Between these six months Mundra Solar managed to add solar cell as well as module production lines.

The solar cell production line installed by Mundra Solar helped India increase the installed capacity from 1,468 megawatts to 2,953 megawatts. The actual capacity in use witnessed a more modest increase from 1,123 megawatts to 1,448 megawatts.

India’s solar module production capacity stands at 8,113 megawatts as on 30 December 2016, up from 5,848 megawatts. Mundra Solar has almost 15% share in this installed capacity.

As reported earlier, Mundra Solar is expected to start production at its facilities by March this year. And by June the company will further increase the production capacity to 2,000 megawatts.

The planned facility will produce polysilicon, wafers, solar cells and modules. Adani had signed an agreement with SunEdison to set up the largest solar module manufacturing facility in India. The two companies had agreed to invest $4 billion on the project. The joint venture plans fizzled out following SunEdison’s bankruptcy.

The company will reportedly start polysilicon production upto 10,000 tonnes in the third phase.

02/12/2017 0 comment

Renewable Energy

India’s Adani Power Looking To Enter Bangladesh Solar Market

written by saurabh

One of India’s leading solar power project developers – Adani Power – is looking to enter the nascent solar power market of Bangladesh.

Adani Power’s Chief Executive Officer for renewable energy told media outlets that his company is keen to develop solar power projects in Bangladesh; the idea, however, is still in the conceptual stage. If Adani indeed decides to enter the Bangladesh market it shall have an early mover advantage as utility-scale solar market in the country is practically non-existent.

Adani Green Energy operates the largest solar power project in India. The company commissioned 648 MW solar power project few months back in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Adani Enterprises, the parent company of Adani Green Energy, is looking to set up end-to-end solutions in the solar power market.

Adani Enterprises recently stated that it plans to begin the construction of phase one of the planned 2 GW solar equipment manufacturing factory this year. The first phase is expected to be operationalised by March 2017 and will have production capacity of 1.2 GW; a second phase is expected to be operational by June 2017 increasing the production capacity to 2 GW. The planned facility will produce polysilicon, wafers, solar cells and modules.

In-house manufacturing of solar power modules would enable the company to expand its solar power generation activities outside of India. Recently, the company announced plans to set up 1 GW solar power capacity in Australia where it operates a large coal mining project.

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11/30/2016 0 comment

Articles Renewable Energy

India Plans $3.1 Billion Support For Solar Equipment Manufacturing

written by saurabh

Unfazed by the unfavourable decision in an international trade dispute over subsidies for solar power projects using domestically manufactured equipment, the Indian government is looking to offer financial support to domestic manufacturers.

According to media reports quoting government sources, India is looking to offer a financial support package of $3.1 billion to solar power equipment manufacturing sector. The support, possibly in the form capital cost support, could be offered on per MW basis.

India plans to add more than 90 GW of solar power capacity between now and April 2022. There are real concerns that a very large majority of this capacity would be based on imported solar PV modules. Dependency on imported modules would mean a huge missed opportunity for developing a robust manufacturing base in the country.

Under the proposed scheme, the government plans to have a manufacturing base of 5 GW by 2019. With the capital cost support the government hopes that these products will be able compete with cheaper modules from China and the United States.

With sharp fall in prices of raw materials needed to manufacture solar power modules over the last few years, and buoyed by the highly ambitious capacity addition targets, several Indian and foreign companies have either started working on manufacturing facilities or are contemplating the same.

Adani Enterprises is planning to set up perhaps the largest solar power equipment manufacturing unit in the western state of Gujarat. First phase of the unit is expected to be operationalised by March 2017 and will have production capacity of 1.2 GW; a second phase is expected to be operational by June 2017 increasing the production capacity to 2 GW.

10/25/2016 0 comment

Renewable Energy

India’s Adani Green Energy Commissions ‘World’s Largest Solar PV Project’

written by saurabh

India’s largest solar power project developed by a single company has finally been fully commissioned.

One of its leading industrial conglomerates – Adani Enterprises – has announced that it commissioned a 648 MW solar PV project in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Adani Green Energy, a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, reported that the power plant has started feeding electricity into the grid.

Adani Green Energy is believed to have invested a total of Rs 4,550 crore (US$680 million) in the project which was completed in a record time of eight months. In June this year, ABB India (which erected substations to connect the power plant with the grid) announced that 360 MW capacity was commissioned and linked to the grid.

The Kamuthi solar power park in Tamil Nadu will be spread across 5 different solar power projects. Power generated from park will be sold to Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation through a long-term power purchase agreement with duration of 25 years. Adani Group had signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Tamil Nadu to set up the solar power park in 2015.

The power is expected to be sold at Rs 7.01/kWh (US¢10.0/kWh) which represents a huge premium to the tariffs discovered in the recently concluded solar power auctions. Bids by Indian project developers seem to have stabilised around Rs 4.70/kWh (US$7.00/kWh).

The project is now the largest solar power project implemented by a single developer in India, and perhaps the world. In India, it overtook the 151 MW solar PV project developed by Welspun Renewables in Madhya Pradesh – the project, along with other assets of Welspun Renewables have now been acquired by Tata Power Renewable Energy.

India is also host to the Charanka solar power park, located in Gujarat. The solar power park has an installed capacity of 345 MW developed by several companies, including Adani itself.

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09/23/2016 0 comment

Renewable Energy

Adani Working On India’s Largest Tracker-based Solar Power Project

written by saurabh

Adani Green Energy has reported progress on the development of what will be the largest tracker-based solar power project in India.

Adani Green Energy is setting up a 105 MW solar power project in the northern state of Punjab. The company had secured the project through competitive bidding under the state’s solar power policy. The project will use trackers provided by NEXTracker.

NEXTracker recently delivered the trackers to the project site. According to a press release issued by NEXTracker, this association marks only the first phase of engaged with Adani Green Energy. The Indian project developer has pledged to add 10 GW solar power capacity by March 2022; this constitutes 10% of the planned operational solar power capacity in the country at that time.

Adani Green Energy has a very ambitious expansion plan in the Indian solar power market. The company has been aggressively participating in the solar power auctions around the country and has also signed agreements with state governments to set up large-scale solar power parks directly.

Additionally, the company is also planning to set up perhaps the largest solar power equipment manufacturing unit in the western state of Gujarat. First phase of the unit is expected to be operationalised by March 2017 and will have production capacity of 1.2 GW; a second phase is expected to be operational by June 2017 increasing the production capacity to 2 GW.

09/13/2016 0 comment

Renewable Energy

India Allocates Another 65 MW At Charanka Solar Power Park

written by saurabh

The series of project allocations by Solar Energy Corporation of India continue as the country developers several solar power parks simultaneously.

Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) auctioned 65 MW solar PV power capacity in the Charanka solar power park, Gujarat. The projects were auction under the viability gap funding scheme wherein developers are required to submit the minimum capital cost support they will require to set up the projects.

Indian project developers ReNew Power Ventures and Mahindra Renewables secured 40 MW and 25 MW capacity, respectively. ReNew Power Ventures quoted a bid of Rs 7.01 million (US$104,700) per MW while Mahindra Renewables placed a bid of Rs 7.77 million (US$115,892) per MW. The developers shall be free to choose imported or Indian-made modules.

The bids placed by the ReNew Power and Mahindra Renewables are higher than the successful bids placed for projects at the same solar power park earlier this year. SECI had auctioned 200 MW capacity in June with all project developers required to use Indian-made modules. The bids at that time were between US$101,810 and US$116,455 per MW.

Government-owned entity Gujarat Industries Power Limited and Mahindra Renewables secured 40 MW capacity each in that auction while Orange Renewables secured a 40 MW project. All the projects will sign power purchase agreement with the Solar Energy Corporation of India for a period of 25 years at a fixed tariff of Rs 4.43/kWh.

08/31/2016 1 comment

Renewable Energy

India’s Adani Enterprises Moving Ahead With Solar Module Manufacturing Venture

written by saurabh

With an aim to become one of the largest private sector power generation companies in India, Adani Enterprises is speeding ahead with plans to manufacture solar power modules.

According to media reports, Adani Enterprises, which controls Adani Power and Adani Green Energy, recently submitted an application with the Ministry of Environment and Forest for approval to set up 1 million tonne/year copper smelter.

While the company did not specify the purpose of setting up the venture, media outlets quotes unnamed sources saying that the copper smelter would feed into the company’s solar module manufacturing units.

Adani Enterprises had signed an agreement with SunEdison last year to set up $4 billion solar modules manufacturing unit in India. The facility would have been the largest of its kind in the country. Following financial troubles of SunEdison, Adani is reportedly looking for new partners but remains firm on its plans.

The company has extensive plans to set up module and related equipment manufacturing units taking advantage of the incentives provided by the government under the ‘Make In India’ program. The company plans to set up a manufacturing facility to produce 1000MWp/yr of Silicon Ingots/ wafers, Silicon Solar Cells, Modules along with 3000 MWp support manufacturing facilities that includes EVA, Back-sheet, Glass, Junction box and Solar cell and string interconnect ribbon in 3 phases.

The company had pledged to set up solar power capacity of 6 GW over the next few years and has won several utility-scale power projects through competitive auctions. The company recently commission part of the largest solar power project developed by one company in India. The company commissioned 360 MW capacity of the 648 MW planned solar power park in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

07/10/2016 0 comment

Articles Renewable Energy

Indian Solar Power Bids Stabilise At US$7/kWh In Absence Of Foreign Competition

written by saurabh

In the absence of international project developers who had driven solar power bids to historic lows in India, fresh bids seem to have stabilised at around US$7/MWh.

In one of the recent solar power auctions in India the competition among bidders remained very high but the lowest tariff was in-line with those seen in other auctions where foreign developers had failed to make the cut.

A total of 350 MW solar power capacity was auctioned in the southern Indian state of Telangana. The winning bids were Rs 4.66/kWh and Rs 4.67/ kWh (US¢7.00/kWh). Five developers managed to secure 350 MW capacity within this tight bidding range.

ReNew Power Ventures and Azure Power won 100 MW capacity each while Karvy Consultants Adani Enterprises and ACME Solar won 50 MW capacity each. All these developers, except Karvy Consultants, are some of the most active project developers in the Indian solar power market. Karvy Consultants is one of the India’s largest integrated financial services provider.

Again, no foreign developers could secure any project. It was not immediately clear which foreign developers participated. Last year, the likes of SunEdison, SkyPower Global, SBG Cleantech and Fortum Group had driven the solar power tariffs to record-low levels of Rs 4.34/kWh (US¢6.5/kWh).

Following the bankruptcy protection filing by SunEdison the participation by foreign project developers has gone down sharply. And in their absence Indian developers have managed to win many projects at comparatively higher tariffs.

While the recent bids of around Rs 4.70/kWh (US¢7.1/kWh) are at a premium of around 8% to the lowest bid ever in India they are at a discount of 19% to the benchmark tariff set by the Indian regulatory body for the current financial year.

05/07/2016 1 comment

Renewable Energy

Competitive Solar Auction In India Keeps Tariffs Under US¢7.2/kWh

written by saurabh

Indian and international project developers continue to fight it out in one of the fastest growing solar power markets in the world.

The recent solar power auction in the Indian state of Karnataka saw one of the most competitive bidding in recent times. The auction allocated 500 MW capacity of the planned 2 GW solar power park part of the ambitious ultra mega solar power project scheme announced by the Indian government.

A total of 6 developers managed to win rights to develop the first phase of the solar power park. The winning bids were all within a range less than one US cent. The winning bids were between Rs 4.78/kWh to Rs 4.80/kWh (US¢7.2/kWh).

Interestingly, 5 of the 6 project developers were Indian companies while many major foreign developers, including SunEdison and Canadian Solar, failed to the cut.

Among the successful bidders, Adani Enterprises, Fortum Group (from Finland), ACME Solar, and Tata Power secured 100 MW project each while RattanIndia Power and ReNew Power Ventures won 50 MW project each.

Such a positive response to one of the first auctions under the ultra mega solar power scheme is very encouraging for the Indian government. The scheme is one of the mainstays of the Indian National Solar Mission which aims for 100 GW operational solar power capacity by March 2022.

Continued and active participation by the Indian developers is also a testament to the fact that it is not just the foreign developers that are propelling the low-cost solar power revolution in India.

04/26/2016 0 comment

Renewable Energy

India’s Adani Enterprises Wins Approval For 3 GW Solar Modules Factory

written by saurabh

Adani Enterprises recently won an initial approval to set up solar modules manufacturing facility in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

According to recent media reports, Adani Enterprises is planning to set up manufacturing facility to produce polysilicon, wafers, solar cells and modules. The company had last year signed an agreement with SunEdison to set up the largest solar module manufacturing facility in India. The two companies had agreed to invest $4 billion on the project.

SunEdison subsequently exited the project following failed negotiations. Adani Enterprises entered negotiations with Foxconn with no progress reported. The company is now reportedly going solo with the manufacturing facility which is expected to require an investment of $2 billion.

Work on the first phase of the facility is expected to start soon and with operations expected to start this year itself. The first phase will see annual production capacity of 1,200 MW cells and modules coming online. Production capacity will be increased to 3,000 MW per year after completion of the second phase. The facility will add polysilicon production upto 10,000 tonnes following the completion of third phase.

Modules manufactured at the facility are likely to be absorbed in the company’s own projects and may be sold to other developers in the country and even sold to other markets. Adani Enterprises signed an agreement with the government of Rajasthan to set up 10 GW solar power park. The company is reportedly in talks with SunEdison to buyout the latter’s solar power projects, operational and planned.

Adani Enterprises has participated and won projects in several solar power auctions and is expected to continue to do so in the future. As a result, ample capacity is expected to be available to absorb the modules manufactured at the facility.

04/21/2016 0 comment

Renewable Energy

Foreign Developers Fail To Make The Cut In India 500 MW Solar Power Auction

written by saurabh

Six project developers wrapped up 500 MW solar power tender with difference in their tariff bids of less than one US cent.

Interestingly, only a single foreign project developer could make the cut. Foreign project developers, like SkyPower Global, SunEdison and Fortum, have so far led the record-breaking solar power tariffs in India.

SkyPower Global is not believed to have participated in the auction while SunEdison could not submit a winning bid. Fortum Group managed to secure rights to develop 100 MW project at Rs 4.79/kWh (US¢7.2/kWh). Canadian Solar also participated in the bidding process but failed to quote a low enough tariff bid. The projects shall be part of the 2 GW ultra mega solar power project coming up in the southern state of Karnataka.

Apart from Fortum Group, all other winning developers are based in India. RattanIndia Power and ReNew Power Ventures won bids for 50 MW capacity each. Adani Enterprises, ACME and Tata Power secured the rights to develop 100 MW capacity each.

Participation by SunEdison should come as nothing short of a surprise. The company secured rights to develop a 500 MW project in Andhra Pradesh last year at Rs 4.63/kWh (US¢6.9/kWh) but is believed to be having problems implementing the project due to its poor financial condition.

04/20/2016 0 comment