Tangedco starts signing deal with solar developers

Chennai: Two years after the State government came out with the solar energy policy, the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) has started signing power purchase agreements (PPA) with solar developers.

 

A senior Tangedco official told DC that they had signed PPAs with six solar developers for a quantum of 35 MW. “These are small projects with a capacity of 5 to 6 MW each,” the official said.

 

After the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) fixed a solar tariff of Rs 7.01 per unit on September 12 last year with a validity of one year, nearly 78 solar developers offered to set up 2300 MW plants in the state, the official said, adding that the commission approved the draft PPA on January 22 after which, on Wednesday, the Tangedco commenced the process of signing agreements with the developers.

 

“We are ready to sign agreements with all the solar developers as we wanted to achieve the target of 3,000 MW of solar power by 2015,” the official said, adding that there was hesitation among the developers who were planning to set up large capacities as they would not be able to commission them to the full before the end of September 12, 2015, until when the Rs 7.01 per unit tariff was valid. 

 

The official said that unless the TNERC extended the time to March 2016, big players would not come forward to set up their plants. Soltech Equipments managing director T. Sriraman said that they were planning to sign a PPA to set up a 100-MW solar project in Ramanathapuram district. He said that they were expecting an extension of time as the banks would not be able to sanction finances before May. 

 

With the PPA being signed at the fag end of the financial year, the banks would be processing their new financial proposal  in the next fiscal year by May, he said, adding that this meant that the project would be delayed by two or three months.