CIL Bags India's First Solar PPA

Coal India Limited, accounts for close to 80 percent of India’s domestic coal production, and has also announced that it has signed its first power purchase agreement (PPA) for the sale of solar electricity. The coal producer engaged in the PPA contract with Gujarat state utility Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) to trade the power generated by the 100 MW solar plant for 2.20/kWh (€0.024) for 25 years.

This is a maiden venture into solar power generation for Coal India. It has secured the100 MW project in a 500 MW reverse auction led by GUVNL that has also saw NTPC, Sprng Energy, and Tata Power’s TP Saurya allocated generation capacity at the similar price.

Coal India would be executing the 100 MW project through a solar engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor, from a capital investment of 442 crore(€48.9 million). Furthermore, the coal company had already issued the tender to finalize the EPC company. The project would be executed within a year from the date of placement of the work order, states Coal India in a statement.

The fossil fuel business is following counterpart NLC by entering the solar market.

Coal India Ltd (CIL) has also announced two new business units: CIL Solar PV and CIL Navikarniya Urja, both being intended to capitalize on the growth opportunities in solar. CIL Solar PV Limited would manufacture ingots, wafers, cells and modules.