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Over 1k-MW wind projects running behind schedule

Bengaluru: Many of the projects won by developers in the two wind auctions conducted by Solar Corporation of India in 2017 have not been completed yet, according to sources close to the development. The commissioning deadline for the first tranche of projects of 1050 MW was October 2018 and for the second of 1000 MW was May this year. But only 690 MW of the first lot and a mere 200 MW of the second are complete.

The winners from the first auction who have managed to set up the entire amount obtained are ReNew Power and Sembcorp, while Mytrah Energy is close to commissioning. Inox Wind and Adani Green Energy had won 250 MW and 50 MW, respectively, but neither has set up a single megawatt so far. Some of the developers unable to meet their deadlines were given a month’s extension, but they still couldn’t finish their projects.

“According to the terms of the power purchase agreement, three months after the commissioning date, the tariff paid to the developers will be lowered by about 15 paise for every month’s delay in commissioning of projects,” said the source. “That’s the stage at which all the developers who have delayed are, as far as SECI’s first lot of projects goes.” These penalties will be decided upon only at the time of commissioning. If delays persist beyond a point, SECI has right to invoke the bank guarantees the developers have given.

Inox confirmed that nothing has been commissioned by them so far. A company spokesman said they were delayed because obtaining connectivity from Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) has been time consuming. “We have not been able to commission anything yet since the PGCIL grid took too long to be constructed. It has been delayed by over 17 months. The PGCIL grid was to be readied in January 2018 but after a huge delay it was finally commissioned 10 days ago and we are now in the final stages of hooking up our infrastructure with PGCIL,” he said. Queries to Adani and Mytrah remained unanswered till the time of going to press. Industry insiders say delays in both cases could largely be attributed to obtaining connectivity. Queries to SECI too remained unanswered.

Sembcorp, Renew, Orange, Inox and Adani were the winners of the second SECI auction winning capacities of 250MW, 250MW, 200MW, 250MW and 50MW, respectively. Out of this, only 200MW has been constructed so far. Almost all projects are expected to be commissioned in Gujarat, hence the delay. Gujarat all of a sudden last year turned reluctant to lease land to projects auctioned by SECI and not by the state.

Queries to all developers remained unanswered till press-time except for Inox which confirmed their second project too has not been commissioned. Sources said that while most of them will miss the deadline, Sembcorp’s project will come up in May and Renew in May or June. “Delays in infrastructure projects are common, so a slight delay is fine, as long as they get commissioned,” said another source.