SECI Awards 200 MW FDRE Project To Altra Xergi At Rs. 8.50/kWh

SECI Awards 200 MW FDRE Project To Altra Xergi At Rs. 8.50/kWh

Altra Xergi Power, an O2 Power subsidiary, recently secured a 200 MW project from Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). The company secured this project out of the initial 8,000 MWh (2000 MW x 4 hours) renewable energy tender.

The Altra Xergi secured the project from SECI at the quoted tariff of Rs. 8.50/kWh to get the 200 MW project under tariff-based competitive bidding (FDRE-VI). The tender for this project was floated in September 2024 and the tender was awarded within four months.  The other bidders were ACME Solar Holdings and Avaada Energy. O2 Power was in the news recently for its asset sale deal with JSW Energy.

Of the total capacity tendered, (2 GW), bids were received for only 820 MW, out of which only 200 MW was awarded.  Altra Xergi will need to supply 800 MWh (200 MW * 4 hours) of energy every day during peak hours as per DISCOM requirement.

SECI FDRE Previous Tenders: A Brief Comparison 

The latest tender offers energy at a relatively higher tariff rate than its erstwhile tender. Which also explain the reluctance to award more capacity. The SECI’s latest FDRE tender result came after a long gap after its last FDRE Tranche IV tender was awarded at tariffs as low as Rs 4.98 per unit.

This came in response to a tender issued by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for 630 MW of FDRE power. The notable part of this tender is that this is the only model that achieves near-perfect dispatchability through 100% RE. The e-reverse auction for the tender started at Rs 5.16/unit. The new low tariffs and the awarding of FDRE contracts by SECI have already created ripples among the solar fraternity.

The tariff awarded under the latest tender is higher than the NTPC FDRE tender results, which allocated 760 MW out of a total of 1,200 MW in the Firm and Dispatchable Renewable Energy (FDRE) auction. In that tender, NTPC awarded a 300 MW project to Hexa Climate Solutions at a tariff of Rs. 4.69/kWh, 400 MW to ACME Solar Holdings at Rs.4.70/kWh, and 60 MW to Avaada Energy from its quoted capacity of 250 MW, also at Rs.4.70/kWh, under the bucket-filling method. Thus, the latest tender result surpasses most FDRE tenders awarded to date.

Last year, Reliance Power Limited (Reliance Power) subsidiary, Reliance NU Suntech Private Limited  (Reliance NU Suntech), won a 930 MW solar contract with a battery energy storage system project (BESS). Reliance secured this project from Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) in an e-reverse auction held on 9th December 2024.

Thus the latest tender result is higher than the SECI’s Tranche XVII BESS auction awarded to Reliance NU Suntech at a tariff of Rs.3.53  ($0.0416)/kWh. This project offered a minimum storage capacity of 465 MW/1,860 MWh charged by solar power.  The company secured the largest individual allocation out of the five companies vying for a total quoted capacity of 2,000 MW of Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) connected solar power projects with 1,000 MW/4,000 MWh energy storage systems.