This is How Industry reacted to Amplus’ recent announcement of Rs.3/unit tariff for solar power

Amplus Energy Solutions recently announced that it has bagged a bid to install 14.5 MW of solar rooftop plants across 10 states. The company in a statement said that it will offer tariffs at a record low of Rs. 3/unit in three states and Rs. 5.3—6.2/unit in other states in India. However, the report did not go well down with some in the industry. Sunil Jain,CEO & ED Hero Future Energies targeting Amplus and media said “I believe we have been happy in the media to distort the actual news to grab headlines. E.g “solar at tariffs at all-time low at Rs. 3/unit” or” Solar now much cheaper than thermal”.

Jain in a professional networking site posted “We will start clapping and customers will all rush to ask you to provide solar at Rs. 3/unit. Nobody in media is talking about the realities that this tariff is after government giving 70% capital subsidy. My suggestion is that let us not spoil the sector with distorted news but give articles which convey factual figures.”

Radhakrishnan Mundoli -Renewable Energy Operations Specialist, Solar Business Consultant defended for Amplus decoding the Rs. 3/ unit tariff with this mathematical calculation

He said one can do a simple math to find out the average price

If we start with a base tariff of Rs.5.5 (many RESCO players are quoting this for large rooftop projects) with an annual escalation of 2% (again a standard term), the average price over a 20 year PPA happens to be 6.681.

Now the so called “unprecedented price” is really a fantastic price, Sanjeev Agarwal of Amplus is right: “There is no question of loss. The project is viable” said Radhakrishnan Mundoli.

However Piyush Goyal in an interview to Hindustan Times said “Though I haven’t factored in the Rs.3 one-off transaction I don’t think it is a viable price.”

Goyal Said “When the Rs.4.6 tariff per unit was discovered, a lot of people criticised it. But my calculations showed it was viable.” He added “I think the solar tariff has been reduced by 45% in the last two years because of efficient economies of scale and transparent bidding. There are no underhand dealings that cause the tariff to go up.”