Tribunal sets aside TNERC order on Adani solar plant

In a major setback to TANGEDCO, the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) has directed the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) to hear afresh the petition filed by the Adani Green Energy (Tamil Nadu) Ltd seeking ‘must run status’ for its solar power project.

In its order, the tribunal has set aside the order passed by the TNERC directing the Adani Group to file its petition against backing down of its solar plant as a dispute resolution petition.

TNERC, in June 2017, had rejected the miscellaneous petition filed by Adani against the backing down, saying that the matter amounted to a dispute between the firm and the Tangedco rather than a complaint against the latter. It has directed the firm to re-submit the petition as a ‘Dispute Resolution Petition’ rather than under the miscellaneous category.

The Adani Group signed a power purchase agreement with the Tangedco to set up a 648 MW solar plant at Kamuthi in Ramanathapuram district. Adani implemented the PPA through five subsidiaries. The 313-MW solar project commissioned before March 2016 deadline got the tariff of Rs 7.01 per unit while the 335 MW project was being paid the lower tariff of Rs 5.10 per unit.

In its plea, the firm alleged that ever since the commissioning of the plant, they have been directed by the State Load Despatch Centre (SLDC) to back down the units, which resulted in huge losses for them. Moreover, it said that the backing down units goes against the ‘Must Run Status’ given to the renewable power sources. “Basically, the Appellant approached the State Commission for ensuring effective implementation of the Regulations regarding the Must Run Status of the solar power plant. The Energy Purchase Agreement clearly provides for adherence of the relevant provisions of IEGC and TNEGC regarding the Must Run status of the power plants…This matter is in-principle related to procurement of electricity from the solar plants of the Appellant. This is a regulatory aspect and not an adjudicatory function,” APTEL said, setting aside the TNERC order.

APTEL’s order comes in the wake of the TNERC pulling up the SLDC for curtailment of solar power generation.

In the order dated March 23 this year, TNERC, in response to a petition of the National Solar Energy Federation of India, emphasised that the “SLDC cannot curtail the renewable power at their convenience”. Curtailment of power means that the SLDC asks power plants not to inject power into the grid despite availability.