Sprng Energy, AMPIN, Juniper, ReNew, Avaada Win NTPC’s 1 GW Hybrid Auction

Biofuels Firm GPS Renewables Raises $50 Million in Debt Financing

Solar Auctions Surge by 229% in Q1 2024, Tender Activity Up 122%

Global Wind Installations Reached 1 TW Milestone in 2023

Funding and M&A Roundup: Nexamp Secures $520 Million

Project Finance Brief: Arevon Secures $352 Million for Posey Solar Project

Indian Oil Issues Empanelment Tender for Solar Power Projects

Southern Railway Seeks Bids for 1.2 MW Rooftop Solar Projects in Chennai

Husk Secures $4 Million from Electrifi to Scale up Mini Grids in Rural India

Doubling Transmission Capacity of Existing Grid Through Reconductoring: Report


					<table id="amazon-polly-audio-table">
						<tr>
						<td id="amazon-polly-audio-tab">
							<div id="amazon-ai-player-label">Listen to this article</div>
							<div id="amazon-ai-player-container">
			<audio class="amazon-ai-player" id="amazon-ai-player" preload="none" controls   controlsList="nodownload" >
				<source type="audio/mpeg" src="http://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/amazon_polly_37266.mp3?version=1656654305">
			</audio>
		</div>
							<div id="amazon-polly-subscribe-tab"></div>
							<div id="amazon-polly-by-tab"></div>
						</td>
						</tr>
					</table><p>The <a href="https://hcraj.nic.in/hcraj/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rajasthan High Court</a> has dismissed petitions filed by the Jal Grahan Vikas Sanstha and villagers of Riwadi in the Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan, challenging the state government&#8217;s decision to allot land to SBE Renewables Ten Projects for a solar project.</p>
<p>The court directed the petitioners to pay an amount of ₹50,000 (~$639), which will be deposited with the Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority, failing which the District Collector, Jaisalmer, should take steps for recovery of the money. The court also asked the authorities to ensure no persons with vested interests obstruct the commissioning of the solar projects in the area.</p>
<p><strong>Background</strong></p>
<p>The Solar Energy Corporation of India (<a href="https://www.seci.co.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SECI</a>) issued the letter of award to SBE Renewables Ten Projects to set up an interstate transmission system (ISTS)-connected wind-solar hybrid power projects (Tranche-I) of 450 MW capacity.</p>
<p>The power purchase agreement (PPA) was signed on December 31, 2019, between SECI and the solar project developer, and the project was to be commissioned within 18 months. This date was later extended to June 2022 because of the intervening situation created by the Covid-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>The state government had approved the allotment of land to the company on lease. The petitioners opposed the allotment of the land.</p>
<p>The petitioners said that the action of the district collector, Jaisalmer, to allot the land, apart from being illegal, was also highly detrimental to the areas of the Riwadi because it would adversely affect the conservation of land and obstruct the free flow and collection of rainwater.</p>
<p>The state government, in its reply, said that the entire chunk of land allotted was owned by it, and any restricted category of water bodies covered no part of it. The land allotted to the solar company was entered as &#8216;banjar&#8217; (fallow) in the revenue records.</p>
<p>The petitioners argued that the land in question was covered by prohibited categories under the relevant statutes and not available for allotment.</p>
<p><strong>Court&#8217;s analysis</strong></p>
<p>The court said there had been intentional concealment of facts by the petitioners. It observed that the petitioners had argued that the land in question comprised of catchment areas, water tanks, and ponds, and thus, under the restrictions imposed by the Rules of 2007, the land was not available for allotment.</p>
<p>The High Court rejected the contention that the land in question was in the category of restricted land</p>
<p>It also said that the village Riwadi was located in the extreme western part of the state covered under the Thar Desert. As such, no significant greenery or foliage ever existed in the area.</p>
<p>Recently, the Rajasthan Cabinet <a href="https://mercomindia.com/rajasthan-allot-land-to-adani-for-gw-solar-project/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decided</a> to allot 2,397.54 hectares of government land in Bandha village of Jaisalmer district to Adani Renewables&#8217; special purpose vehicle — Adani Renewable Energy Holding Four, to set up a 1,000 MW solar power project.</p>
<p>Earlier, the Rajasthan High Court had <a href="https://mercomindia.com/rajasthan-high-court-cancels-allotment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">canceled</a> the allotment of public utility land measuring 1,452 bighas (581.56 acres) near Pokhran in Jaisalmer to the Adani Renewable Energy Park.</p>
<p>Subscribe to Mercom&#8217;s real-time <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-renewable-energy-regulatory-updates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Regulatory Updates</a> to ensure you don&#8217;t miss any critical updates from the renewable industry.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Rakesh Ranjan</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rakesh-Headshot-crop-2.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Rakesh Ranjan,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Rakesh Ranjan.</a></p>
</div>
<div class="authorboxn">
<p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rakesh-Headshot-crop-2.jpg" width="77" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Rakesh Ranjan</strong></a> is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Prior to joining Mercom, he worked in many roles as a business correspondent, assistant editor, senior content writer, and sub-editor with bcfocus.com, CIOReview/Silicon India, Verbinden Communication, and Bangalore Bias. Rakesh holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" rel="noopener noreferrer">More articles from Rakesh Ranjan.</a></p>
</div>
</div></div><div class="clearfix"></div></div></div>

Rajasthan High Court Upholds Government’s Land Allotment for a Solar Project

<p>Recently, a petition filed by the Indian Wind Power Association (IWPA) had challenged the validity of the deviation settlement mechanism (DSM) regulations passed by the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) and requested it to be scrapped.</p>
<p>The members of IWPA had pleaded that the DSM charges were high and that they were major sufferers due to unscheduled power cuts, refusal to offtake power by the state power distribution companies (DISCOMs) despite good generation during peak hours.</p>
<p>The other point of contention raised by the petitioners was that they were liable to pay high settlement charges and that the QCAs (Qualified coordinating agencies), which are responsible for coordinating between generators and state load despatch centers, lacked adequate technical expertise and that the selection of QCAs was forced on them.</p>
<p>The Rajasthan High Court reviewed the petition and has now found that the regulations were valid. In its order, the bench said:</p>
<p><em>“In our considered opinion, the requirement of wind energy generators to provide a week ahead or a day ahead scheduling is well within the powers of RERC to regulate the forecasting, scheduling, and generation of the electricity. Merely because precise forecasting is not possible or feasible as alleged by the petitioners, the provisions requiring such scheduling cannot be held as arbitrary. Similarly, the imposition of deviation charges by Regulation 18 in the event of failure to adhere to the scheduled generation can also not be declared arbitrary.”</em></p>
<p><em>“We are of the firm view that, whatever may be the source of generating the power, the principle as far as power to levy charges or fine by whatever name called on account of deviation is concerned, they have been settled and shall remain unaltered.”</em></p>
<p>As far as the QCAs are concerned, the respondents (RERC and DISCOMs) argued that the petitioners did not have any substantiating evidence in the matter. Also, they did not allow QCAs to be a part of the petition, and therefore, the QCAs could not defend themselves.</p>
<p>The high court accepted that a significant amount of technical expertise would be necessary to evaluate the finer points of the regulation. The court recommended that the petitioners should approach the RERC with their grievances, (including those which have been raised in the petition) for their redressal. The petitioners have been asked to file their petition within a period of 15 days. The court has asked the state load despatch center to refrain from recovering DSM charges until then.</p>
<p>The RERC had issued <a href="https://mercomindia.com/rajasthan-amendment-deviation-settlement-power/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">draft amendments</a> to the 2017 regulations on deviation settlement mechanism for grid-connected power in January 2019.</p>
<p>Recently, the <a href="http://rerc.rajasthan.gov.in/main.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">RERC</a> dismissed petitions filed by captive solar project developers seeking relief from applicable wheeling and banking charges. In its order, the <a href="https://mercomindia.com/rajasthan-amendment-deviation-settlement-power/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">commission clarified</a> whether wheeling charges should be levied on the capacity contracted or the energy wheeled.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/discoms-should-buy-power-re-projects-rec-2-67/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">In October 2018</a>, the commission had released a staff paper on projects registered under renewable energy certificate (REC) mechanism in the state. It had proposed that DISCOMs should purchase the renewable power generated from such projects at the lowest pooled cost notified by the RERC since 2010, that is ₹2.67 (~$0.035)/kWh.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/shaurya-bajaj/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">shaurya</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p><span style="font-family: Calibri"><span style="color: #000000"><span>Shaurya is a staff reporter at MercomIndia.com with experience working in the Indian solar energy industry for the past four years in various roles. Prior to joining Mercom, Shaurya worked with a renewable energy developer and a consulting company. Shaurya holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Management from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. </span></span></span></p>
</div></div><div class="clearfix"></div></div></div>

Court Upholds Deviation Settlement Mechanism Order Passed by Rajasthan Commission

rajasthan-high-court

Get the most relevant India solar and clean energy news.

RECENT POSTS