Adani, Azure top bidders for manufacturing-linked solar tender

Adani Green Energy and Azure Power have emerged as successful bidders in Solar Energy Corporation of India's first manufacturing-linked solar tender, a top government official said on Friday. Adani has bid for 1.5 GW solar cell manufacturing capacity and 6 GW generation capacity, MNRE Secretary Anand Kumar said on the sidelines of India Energy Forum-Renewable Energy Summit here.

He also said that Azure Power bid for 500 MW solar cell manufacturing capacity and 2 GW generation capacity. With the green shoe option, the capacity for Adani would increase to 2 GW of solar cell manufacturing capacity and 8 GW generation capacity, Kumar said.

For Azure, with green shoe option, it will be 1,000 solar cell manufacturing and 4 GW generation capacity, he added. "The bids have been finalized and only paperwork remains," he said adding that the tariff has been fixed at Rs 2.92.

After the successful auction, an investment of around Rs 6,000 crore is expected for setting up 1 GW of solar manufacturing facilities, which would generate permanent direct employment of up to 10,000 people, a source said. At present, India imports 95 percent of its solar module requirement from China, leading to a forex outflow of around USD 10 billion per year.