(Bloomberg) — A developer in India has bid the lowest price to date to build solar plus battery capacity in the country.
Pace Digitek Infra Pvt Ltd quoted 3.41 rupees ($0.04) per unit to develop 100 MW as part of a larger project of grid-connected solar energy, plus 600MW of storage.
Cheaper modules and falling battery prices, combined with improved solar manufacturing capacity in the country, likely encouraged the developer to offer such a low tariff, said Vibhuti Garg, South Asia director at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
The tender mandated the use of domestically produced equipment, a protectionist measure the government has been pushing to reduce India’s reliance on Chinese manufacturers.
The deployment at scale of battery storage, still at a nascent state in India, is key to achieving the nation’s goal of reaching 500 gigawatts of non-fossil fuels capacity by the end of the decade. That would help meet growing power demand, which the government is currently planning to tackle by expanding coal capacity.
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