Andhra Pradesh has scrapped a 6,400-Mw solar tender and, instead, decided to avail of supply from the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) at Rs 2.49 per unit.
The state government has withdrawn its review appeal against an order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on June 17 order that had quashed the tender saying invitations for bids for renewable energy projects must comply with the Centre’s guidelines.
The order was passed on a petition filed in January by renewable energy companies, which had argued that the tender process had violated norms. The state told the high court last week that SECI has offered to supply solar power at Rs 2.49 per unit and that the government had decided to accept the offer for supply of uninterrupted 9 hours day-time free power to the farming community on a sustainable basis.
Under the tender floated by the Andhra Pradesh Energy Green Corp Ltd (APEGCL),
and had won five mega solar power projects of 600 Mw each at a tariff of Rs 2.47 per unit and Rs 2.48 per unit, respectively. Torrent Power won 300 Mw at Rs 2.47 per unit.
“This development affirms our position that solar bidding cannot be carried out outside the scope of the Electricity Act, 2003. The judgment passed by the high court has now been accepted by the government of Andhra Pradesh,” said advocate Shri Venkatesh, partner, SKV Law Offices, who represented the green energy firms in the matter.
The AP high court had pointed out deviations in the bidding documents — Request for Selection (RfS) and the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) — from the provisions of the Act and the Competitive Bidding Guidelines (CBG) issued by the Ministry of Power under Section 63 of the Act.
APEGCL acts as the nodal agency on behalf of the Andhra Pradesh government to supply 10,000 Mw solar power to farmers.
On November 31 last year, APGECL had initiated the tender process for setting up 10 solar power units to produce 6,400 Mw exclusively for agricultural use.
APGECL had stated in its PPA that any dispute regarding the project would be settled by the state government, as against the legal requirement of moving the state or central electricity regulator.
Source : economictimes
