The move can impact around 1,000 MW of solar generation capacities, including assets owned by firms such as Azure Power, Adani Green and Acme Solar, which had signed PPAs with the state between 2013 and 2016.
The Punjab government on Thursday introduced two Bills in the state assembly to lower the tariffs of plants which supply electricity to the state. The Punjab energy security, reform, termination and redetermination of power tariff Bill, 2021, aims to revise the terms of the power purchase agreements (PPAs) between the state and L&T’s 1,400 MW Nabha plant and Vedanta’s subsidiary Talwandi Sabo Power, which runs the 1,980 MW station. The Bill aims to revise the tariffs of renewable energy plants.
As FE recently reported, fearing a repetition of the 2019 event when Andhra Pradesh had unilaterally revised PPAs to reduce renewable energy tariffs, solar and wind developers have written to the Punjab government requesting it not to revise tariffs of renewable energy-based electricity being supplied to the state.
The move can impact around 1,000 MW of solar generation capacities, including assets owned by firms such as Azure Power, Adani Green and Acme Solar, which had signed PPAs with the state between 2013 and 2016. The tariffs of these projects are generally around Rs 7/unit, which is much higher than the rates of around Rs 2.2-2.6/unit being currently discovered in competitive biddings in the country.
The development comes at a time when the state is looking to reduce its power purchase costs amid lower revenue realisation by its discom. The Punjab government has recently reduced power tariffs for domestic consumers by Rs 3/unit. Punjab’s former CM Captain Amarinder Singh had asked the state’s discom to examine all PPAs signed by the erstwhile SAD-BJP government with various private power plants, and revise or cancel the contracts “that are not beneficial to the state”.
Source: financialexpress
