Sembcorp bags 2nd wind power project in India Singapore-based Sembcorp announced in a release that it has won a 250 MW project in the country's second nationwide wind power tender. "This makes Sembcorp the utility player which has won the largest combined capacity in India's two national wind power tenders so far," the company statement said. The new project will expand Sembcorp's presence in India's power market. It has over 4,000 megawatts of power capacity in operation and under development in the country, comprising both thermal and renewable energy assets. The project is expected
to be developed in phases and targeted to be fully commissioned by the first half of 2019. Sembcorp India CEO & Country Head Vipul Tuli said the new project is in line with the firm's strategy to make energy business in the country stronger and more sustainable. Sunil Gupta, Managing Director and CEO of Sembcorp Green Infra, said the back-to-back wins in both national wind power tenders held to date demonstrates Sembcorp's strong renewable energy capabilities. The project will be connected to central transmission utility and supply power to multiple states ■
Orange Renewable Awarded 200 MW Wind Project in the State of TN Orange Renewable, a 100% subsidiary of Singapore-based AT Holdings Pte. Ltd, has secured a 200 MW Wind Power project in the State of Tamil Nadu under an intensely competitive global bid floated by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). The company's bid of a highly competitive rate of Rs. 2.64 / unit (4.1 US cents / unit) is the lowest tariff in India and one of the lowest in the world, establishing Orange Renewable as one of the most competitive wind power producers in the world. Speaking on the development, Sudhir Nunes, CEO, Wind Business, Orange Renewable
KERC directive on tariff, a setback to the wind industry Karnataka’s electricity regulator has refused to approve the power purchase agreements (PPAs) for wind power projects that were commissioned before March 31, 2017, without a fresh tariff reduction of 17% to Rs 3.74/ unit. The decision would impact 242.5 MW of wind power plants with a capital cost of about Rs 1,350 crore in the state. Apart from Indian companies such as Suzlon and Inox, the decision would adversely affect projects of foreign companies such as Siemens Gamesa and Green Infra. The decision comes shortly after the Solar Energy Corporation of India managed to get bids as low
as Rs 2.64 a unit in the second competitive bidding for wind energy of 1,000 MW. After the first such auction held in February, where wind tariffs dropped to Rs 3.46/unit, there were a series of issues across Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan where state-owned discoms wanted to renegotiate previously agreed prices. “While the IPPs have already signed PPA’s for these projects with the state’s discoms, the recent tariff revision by KERC, has hurt the investor confidence in the state,” said Ramesh Kymal, Chairman and MD, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Power ■
said, " We were able to achieve our targeted returns at such a low tariff through a combination of factors, including: ownership of critical development assets in a site with strong wind resource, strong relationships with global suppliers of lowest cost of energy technology, cost economy of scale associated with a single 200MW project, efficient sourcing of capital, sophisticated and innovative contracts and low off take risks in terms of PPA and evacuation. We attribute this success to our disciplined focus on building project development, financing, construction management and asset management capabilities." ■
India gets its first LiDAR for offshore wind assessment LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, uses light from a pulsed laser to measure ranges. It has been commissioned for the National Institute of Wind Energy’s offshore platform. The data found will support India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s efforts towards exploring the full potential of offshore wind along coastline. This is another contribution from the consortium, led by GWEC, towards ensuring that the offshore wind sector in India is supported by strong technical data
17
Nov/ Dec 2017 SmartEnergy