SoftBank and Foxconn Bring India Some of World's Cheapest Solar
- Government auction sees bids below 4 cents a kilowatt-hour
- Offers to build solar farms help Modi reach clean energy goals
Solar panels stand in Goheung, South Korea.
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Companies led by SoftBank Group Corp. of Japan and Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Co. Ltd. are bringing India some of the cheapest solar power in the world, helping Prime Minister Narendra Modi reach his ambitious clean-energy goals.
In two auctions this week for renewable-energy power-purchase contracts, bids from companies to supply clean electricity slid to as little as 3.8 cents a kilowatt-hour. The record is sharply below the previous bids around 5 cents and within striking distance of the lowest recorded bids in the United Arab Emirates and Chile as of quarter three of 2016, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.