Solar Power: Regulatory Commission pulls up State
The Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission has ordered the State Load Despatch Centre (SLDC) not to resort to curtailing solar power for any whimsical reason, warning that it would attract penal action against the officials concerned under Section 142 of the Electricity Act.
By : migrator
Update: 2019-04-01 22:28 GMT
Chennai
The private producers who had installed solar power plants alleged that the State had issued direction in this regard, which led to massive losses.
TNERC has issued an order in this regard on the petition filed by the National Solar Energy Federation of India, whose members including Adani Green Energy (Tamil Nadu) Ltd and its wholly owned subsidiaries that operate a 648 MW solar plant in Ramanathapuram district, seeking a direction to the SLDC to stop issuing backing down instructions to solar power generators.
The petitioner alleged that the solar projects that have a tariff of Rs 7.01 per unit were being directed to back down to create economic and commercial duress upon the generators in this category to achieve what appears to be the game plan to force them to accept the lower tariff of subsequent control periods. “Backing down on account of economic operations are in gross violation of the provisions of the Indian Electricity Grid Code, Tamil Nadu Electricity Grid Code and the orders of both the APTEL and this commission,” it contended.
The Adani Green Energy (Tamil Nadu) Ltd (AGETNL) and its subsidiaries operate 648 MW solar power plant at Kamuthi in Ramanathapuram. Of the 648 MW, only 313 MW capacity solar plants got the tariff of Rs 7.01 per unit while the rest of the capacity comes under the tariff of Rs 5.10 per unit.
In the petition, the federation said that AGETNL and its subsidiaries have faced a massive financial loss of Rs 202.21 crore from the date of commissioning of its projects between April 2016 and July 2017.
In its order, the commission stressed that the SLDC cannot curtail the renewable power at their convenience. “Backing down of the “Must Run Status” power shall be resorted to only after exhausting all other possible means of achieving and ensuring grid stability and reliable power supply,” it said, pointing out that the backing down data furnished by the petitioners has not been disputed by the respondents. “However, they were not able to explain the reason prevailing at each time of backing down beyond the general statements. It gives rise to a suspicion that the backing down instructions were not solely for the purpose of ensuing grid safety,” it noted.
Asking the SLDC to log each event of backing down whenever such instructions were issued with the reasons which leads to that unavoidable decision, the Commission directed the SLDC to submit a quarterly return on the curtailments with the reasons should be sent to it.
Power woes
- Solar developers alleged SLDC backing down solar power projects having tariff of Rs 7.01 per unit to force them to accept lower tariffs of subsequent control periods
- SLDC argued that it tries to accommodate the maximum possible generation from solar sources, however at instances when the excess generation poses a threat to the system security, the excess generation is blocked
- TNERC directed the SLDC not to resort to back down solar power for any whimsical reason as it would attract penal action under section 142 of the Electricity Act on the officials concerned
Visit news.dtnext.in to explore our interactive epaper!
Download the DT Next app for more exciting features!
Click here for iOS
Click here for Android