In Uttarakhand, 181 MW of solar projects (with an average tariff of Rs.5.78 (~$0.0863)/kWh) and an original commissioning schedule of October 2016 have been extended until March 31, 2017.

An official at the Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (UREDA) said there was a delay in the approval of power purchase agreements (PPAs) and developers petitioned for an extension of the project completion date. Uttarakhand Power Corporation (UPCL), the main distribution company (DISCOM) in the state has not been co-operative with developers.

Replying to petitions by developers, the Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC) stated, “the delay in achieving financial closures and consequently the commissioning of the projects is due to the inefficiency of Uttarakhand Power Corporation which led to delays in the signing of the PPAs.”

Initially, UREDA had asked the UERC to extend the commissioning date to January 31, 2017. Recognizing the difficulty faced by developers, the UERC accepted the submission made by the developers to extend the date of commissioning to March 31, 2017.

A source at Omkar Power Tech commented, “UREDA has not sent the legal documents yet, without which we cannot go ahead with commissioning.” The delay on UREDA’s part is due to the ongoing issues between UREDA and UPCL, the state DISCOM.

An official at ACME told Mercom, “A major cause for the extension of the commissioning date was the disagreement between UREDA and the state DISCOM, which complained that they [the DISCOM] should have been informed of the commissioning date six months in advance.” Currently, the DISCOM is not ready to buy power from these solar projects and will only be able to evacuate power from these projects from next year.