Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) has dismissed petitions by solar power developers for an extension of a 28 January deadline for completing their projects in the state without losing preferential payment rates.
At least 30 developers including Tata Power Co. Ltd, GMR Gujarat Solar Power Pvt. Ltd, Alex Astral Power Pvt. Ltd and Inspira Infrastructure Ltd had approached the regulator seeking an extension of two-six months in the country’s largest solar programme.
“The petitioners have not succeeded in making out a case for invoking the inherent power of the commission to extend the control period determined by the commission in its order dated 29 January 2010... Several projects have been or are likely to be commissioned during the control period itself,” the GERC order said.
All the petitions with a total capacity of 250-300 megawatts (MW) have been dismissed, but developers who are serious can still go ahead with their projects, said a senior GERC official on condition of anonymity. “Even the lower tariffs offered for the period after extension are higher than the tariffs under the national solar mission,” he said.
The Gujarat government had, under its solar policy, set a tariff for solar photovoltaic projects at Rs 15 per unit, or kilowatt hour (for the first 12 years), supplied by projects commissioned before 28 January 2012. It plans to lower this rate by at least 30% after this date.
Many developers told the commission that they were facing a difficulty in land acquisition, as well as fiscal constraints due to delays by financial institutions and, hence, wanted an extension of the deadline.
The power purchase agreement (PPA) signed between state power utility and the solar power developers envisages commissioning of the projects by 31 December 2011, whereas the control period for the current tariff is up to January-end.
Over 80 projects with a total capacity of 960MW were envisaged to come up by 29 January 2012. Solar projects with a total capacity of 175MW have been commissioned as of 31 December.
The government of Gujarat has informed the regulator that projects with total capacity of about 587.4MW, out of 968.5MW for which PPAs had been signed, would be commissioned during the control period in question.
Solar developers are required to provide a bank guarantee amounting to Rs 25 lakh per MW to state-run Gujarat Energy Development Agency overseeing the Gujarat solar mission. That’s forfeited if a developer fails to start commercial operations within the agreed time frame.
maulik.p@livemint.com