The National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI) has appealed to Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy RK Singh to intervene to get private solar developers that have commissioned projects in Karnataka their payment, reported The Hindu Business Line.
The projects, under National Solar Mission Phase-II Batch-III Tranche-V and with power purchase agreements (PPAs) signed with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), have been commissioned and are feeding power to the grid. But the power producers have not been receiving payments due to the delay in assigning scheduled commissioning date for these projects.
According to the English Daily, the projects of major players such as Hero Future, Adani Group, ACME, and Actis, with a cumulative capacity of 970 MW, are stuck. This means around ₹6,000-crore loans could become non-performing if the matter is not resolved.
In the letter dated May 23 NSEFI notes that commissioning of the projects scheduled for September 2017, was delayed due to various approvals not coming in. The developers then approached SECI seeking extension of the financial closure timeline and the project commissioning time frame.
NSEFI has asked not to link payments with submission of land compliance documents as the plants are already commissioned, as allowed by the Committee in September 2017. It has also requested granting of “provisional COD” to the affected projects so that developers can receive payment against the energy sold. The Association requested the Minister to intervene in the matter to avoid developers’ loans turning into NPAs.
