Indian news agencies and renewable energy news websites reported on January 3 that Azure Power has completed the phased commissioning of its 600MW PV project in Bikaner, a city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. In the Indian solar market, the term “commissioning” generally means advancing a project or a portion of it to the grid connection and operation phase. The Bikaner project is touted as the largest PV project owned and operated at a single location by a developer in India. Connected to the Interstate Transmission System, the Bikaner project will be supplying power to several states under a 25-year PPA with Solar Energy Corporation of India. The feed-in tariff of the project is set at INR 2.53 (USD 0.035) per kWh.
Ranjit Gupta, MD and CEO of Azure Power, said that the commissioning of the Bikaner project is “an incredible way” to start 2022 and a “milestone” toward a more sustainable future. Gupta also noted that the project, which began last year, encountered significant challenges during its development as India suffered a major wave of COVID-19 outbreaks. He stressed that Azure Power managed to “deliver high-performing assets” of the project while protecting the safety of its workers and local communities. On the whole, he and his team are proud of this latest achievement.
Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Azure Power was the first to set up a private utility-scale PV project in India. Headquartered in New Delhi, the company’s domestic project portfolio is around 2.5GW. It is also worth pointing out that in the middle of last year, Canadian pension fund Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System acquired a 19.36% stake in the company for USD 219 million.