India, beset by blackouts as coal-power stations are idled for lack of fuel, plans to install 20,000 megawatts of solar energy capacity by 2022, up from 1,700 megawatts now.
The Godawari CSP plan was postponed by slow U.S. supplies and desert dust clouds.
Godawari’s CSP plant and the other six projects that prevailed in the 2010 auction won licenses by pledging to sell power at an average of 11,480 rupees ($197) a megawatt-hour. That’s 43 percent below the global average of $344, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The lower price may weigh on finances at the Godawari project, which already overshot its budget by almost 20 percent. Costs were pushed up by a lack of local components, a weakening rupee and a 28-month deadline that restricted its ability to negotiate terms with lenders and contractors, Agrawal said.
Godawari Power & Ispat Ltd. started Asias biggest solar-thermal plant as India limps toward clean-energy targets with prices almost half the global average.