Hitachi Energy Invests $1.5 Billion to Meet Surging Transformer Demand

US Aims to Slash Grid Interconnection Timeline from 33 to Under 12 Months by 2030

Daily News Wrap-Up: China Installs 46 GW Solar Capacity in Q1 2024

RUMSL Issues Tender for 170 MW Solar Project at Neemuch

US Solar PPA Prices Decline by 1.5% in Q1 2024, Europe Sees Drop of 5%

NextEra Energy’s Q1 Profit Rises 12%, Expects Higher Demand from Data Centers

Enphase Energy Reports Net Income Drop of 75% in Q1 on Weak Demand

Tata Power, Indian Bank Partner for Residential Rooftop Solar Financing

Tesla’s EV Sales Drop, Energy Storage Revenues Surge in Q1 2024

Burdensome Regulations and Delays Jeopardize Telangana’s Solar Open Access Projects

<p>According to the latest notification issued by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), any delay in the scheduled commissioning date of solar projects due to unavailability of internal execution or transmission system by solar park developers will now be liable to a penalty.</p>
<p>According to the memorandum, if the delay in the scheduled commissioning of solar projects is caused due to unready internal evacuation or transmission systems and is caused by solar park development agency (SPDA) or solar park implementing agency (SPIA), then the SPDA or SPIA will attract a penalty of ₹ 1,000 (~$13.64) per day.</p>
<p>This amount can be recovered in two ways-</p>
<ul>
<li>The government may recover the amount from solar park development agency from the central financial assistance (CFA) given to them</li>
<li>In case CFA is not available, then National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) will recover the amount from solar park developer, who will later collect it from the development or implementing agency.</li>
</ul>
<p>In such cases, NTPC may issue orders for extension of time, and then only act on recovery of penalty.</p>
<p>Of late, the domestic solar sector has witnessed many cases of delays in project commissioning due to a plethora of reasons like difficulty in land procurement, lack of transmission infrastructure to name a few. However, while some developers have had to bear the brunt for the delay, others have scored a win.</p>
<p>Project commissioning delays in India are handled strictly by government agencies often resulting in the encashment of performance bank guarantees. Recently, the <a href="http://www.tserc.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC)</a>, however, <a href="https://mercomindia.com/solar-developers-win-cases-telangana/">provided relief</a> to the developers of four grid-connected solar projects in the state, totaling 55 MW. In all the four cases, TSERC accepted the reasons given by the project developers for the delay in the scheduled commissioning dates, scoring a win for developers.</p>
<p>However, in <a href="https://mercomindia.com/one-day-delay-solar-tariff-reduction/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">another similar case</a>, the <a href="https://www.karnataka.gov.in/kerc/Pages/home.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC)</a> dismissed a petition filed by Emmvee Photovoltaic Power Private Limited, stating that the solar power developer is not entitled to the relief due to project commissioning delay of one day.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/mnre-reduces-commissioning-timeline-solar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Recently,</a> MNRE proposed to reduce the commissioning timelines of solar projects in an effort to facilitate the timely achievement of the country’s target of 100 GW of solar capacity by 2022. According to the document reviewed by Mercom, solar PV projects inside a solar park have a proposed commissioning timeline of 15 months from the date of power purchase agreement (PPA). Nine months will be provided for financial closure and six months for construction of the project.</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/land-transmission-issues-india-solar-megatenders/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Earlier,</a> Mercom published a report analyzing how lack of transmission availability may cause trouble for India’s mega solar tenders.</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/nitin/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Nitin Kabeer</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p><img class="alignleft wp-image-9822" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/nitin-2.png" alt="" width="99" height="105" /><span style="font-family: Calibri"><span style="color: #000000"><span>Nitin is a staff reporter at Mercomindia.com and writes on renewable energy and related sectors. Prior to Mercom, Nitin has worked for CNN IBN, India News, Agricultural Spectrum and Bureaucracy Today. He received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism &amp; Communication from Manipal Institute of Communication at Manipal University and Master’s degree in International Relations from Jindal School of International Affairs. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/nitin/">More articles from Nitin Kabeer</a></span></span></span></p>
</div></div><div class="clearfix"></div></div></div>

Delay in Setting up Transmission System for Solar Projects will Now Attract a Penalty

spia

Get the most relevant India solar and clean energy news.

RECENT POSTS