2 weeks Ago
New Delhi: The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has questioned the transfer of 2,333 MW capacity of Azure Power India to Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) in the 7,000 MW solar power project for Andhra Pradesh, which is at the heart of alleged bribery charges against the Adani group. CERC, the principal regulator of power sector in India, has asked the Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) to explain how Azure was substituted as power developer by AGEL for 2,333 MW of power to be supplied to Andhra Pradesh. In December 2021, a power supply agreement (PSA) was signed between SECI and Andhra Pradesh discoms for 7,000 MW of power, of which 4,666 MW had to be supplied by AGEL and 2,333 MW by Azure.
A power purchase agreement (PPA) to this effect was signed between SECI and AGEL and another between SECI and Azure. This was approved in April 2022 by the CERC. However, Azure backed out of this and its part of 2,333 MW was transferred to AGEL.
In December 2023, a supplementary PSA was signed between SECI and Andhra Pradesh which transferred this capacity making total power to be supplied by AGEL to 7,000 MW. Artificial Intelligence(AI) Tabnine AI Masterclass: Optimize Your Coding Efficiency By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Finance A2Z Of Money By - elearnmarkets, Financial Education by StockEdge View Program Marketing Future of Marketing & Branding Masterclass By - Dr. David Aaker, Professor Emeritus at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, Author | Speaker | Thought Leader | Branding Consultant View Program Finance Financial Literacy for Non-Finance Executives By - CA Raja, Chartered Accountant | Financial Management Educator | Former AVP - Credit, SBI View Program Web Development Advanced C++ Mastery: OOPs and Template Techniques By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Web Development JavaScript Essentials: Unlock AI-Driven Insights with ChatGPT By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Leadership Business Storytelling Masterclass By - Ameen Haque, Founder of Storywallahs View Program Legal Complete Guide to AI Governance and Compliance By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) View Program Entrepreneurship From Idea to Product: A Startup Development Guide By - Dr.
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The order reads, "In response to the specific query of the commission as to whether the transaction of the above nature was permissible under the tender document issued by SECI, senior counsel for SECI submitted that while the provisions of the guidelines and the RfS (request for selection) documents as such did not restrict such transaction, the PPA as issued along with the RfS, at Article 15.1, permitted the assignment of the PPA. Senior counsel further sought liberty to file a brief note on the aspects as to how the above transaction is permissible under the guidelines and bid documents and in addition, in the larger public interest.
" However, Article 15.1 of PPA expressly forbids any transfer of such capacity before the commissioning date of the full project. So far, the project has not been commissioned but the capacity has been transferred.
In this case, the commercial operation date (COD) or the commissioning date of the full project is September 2026. Article 15.1 of PPA says, "This agreement shall be binding upon, and inure to the benefit of the parties and their respective successors and permitted assigns.
This agreement shall not be assigned by any party, except to the project lenders or lender's representative as security for their debt under the financing agreements, other than mutual consent between the parties to be evidenced in writing...
In no case, such assignment shall be permissible prior to the declaration of COD." The final order of CERC, on whether 2,333 MW could be automatically transferred to the other successful bidder (in this case AGEL), is pending. Nominations for ET MSME Awards are now open.
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