Wind energy companies led by their associations have filed a writ petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court, challenging the state’s decision to review power purchase agreements they have already signed.
Besides the Indian Wind Power Association, which has already filed a petition, top renewable energy companies such as Renew Power, Acme Solar, Mytrah Energy and Hero Future Energies are likely to file similar petitions in the court, sources said.
The industry is agitated over the state’s new chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy’s decision to form a committee to review all solar and wind power purchase agreements (PPAs) signed by the previous government. The July 1 order issued by the state’s energy department said the committee would review the contracts and negotiate with developers in order to bring down prices.
“A stay on the July 1 order and any and all proceedings of the high-level negotiation committee has been asked for by the court,” said a source close to the development.
The source said the industry is also seeking a stay on another order issued on July 12 by distribution companies of Andhra Pradesh, which said the wind PPAs entered after 2012 have caused a huge burden on the state and thus tariffs would have to be lowered or else PPAs would be terminated.
The Andhra Pradesh government held a meeting on July 22 with wind developers and other stakeholders to discuss tariff renegotiation where government officials reiterated their stance.
Union power minister R K Singh has also written to Andhra chief minister urging him against such renegotiation of signed agreements. In an interview with ET, Singh said tariffs should not be renegotiated unless there are specific cases of malpractices. Singh said the industry was very concerned that foreign investors, who have been active in India’s renewable energy sector, would be put off if authorities do not respect the sanctity of contracts.
Andhra Pradesh has installed around 3,978MW of wind capacity, according to consultancy firm Bridge To India.
