NPAs in Renewable Industry Inevitable If Andhra Doesn’t Resolve Issue Soon
The National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI) and the Indian Wind Power Association (IWPA) have written to the High Court of Andhra Pradesh urging them to expedite pending hearings for issues renewable projects developers have with power purchase agreements (PPA) and payment delays.
The agencies said that writ appeals filed by developers dealing with issues of payment of outstanding invoices at the tariff signed in the PPA by state distribution companies (DISCOMs) have been pending since December 2019. These cases were last heard in February 2020 and were scheduled to be heard again, which could not be done because of the nationwide lockdown.
In the hearing held in February 2020, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had asked the state’s distribution companies to clear the dues of wind developers within two weeks. The dues at the time amounted to ₹1.7 billion (~$24.3 million). The high court had asked the DISCOMs to reply to every petitioner in the case within two weeks. There has been no update after the February hearing.
They explained that developers have only been paid 50% of the tariffs agreed upon in their respective PPAs for power supplied from their respective renewable projects since August 2018. These payments were delayed by almost a year, and no payments have been released to developers since March 2020.
