The Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) has filed a petition with the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) seeking it to invalidate the cancellation of a power sale agreement (PSA) for 300 MW of wind power.

The UPPCL had signed a PSA with NTPC Limited for a 350 MW of wind power project on March 14, 2019. Of this, 300 MW was by Mytrah Vayu (Amravati) Private Limited, a wind power developer, with whom NTPC signed a power purchase agreement on March 25, 2019. The remainder 50 MW was from Srijan Energy Limited, a subsidiary of Continuum Wind Energy.

The state distribution company (DISCOM) stated that NTPC terminated its PSA through a letter dated July 18, 2019, stating that the UPPCL could not obtain the state Commission’s approval for the PSA adopting the tariff, trading margin of ₹0.07 (~$0.00094)/kWh, and for the procurement of the contracted capacity. NTPC noted that Mytrah Vayu also terminated its PPA with it on June 24, 2019.

UPPCL contended that it was NTPC’s responsibility to file a petition with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) for tariff adoption and other approvals since it was a multi-state power supplier like the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and PTC India Limited. It further stated that the NTPC did not provide the necessary documents for the approval of the contracted amount of power to be procured.

A representative for NTPC Limited said that the company would present its case through legal counsel and sought one month to file its reply to the petition. There were no representatives for Mytrah Vayu.

The Commission noted that the matter of approval of wind power for 350 MW had come up in an earlier petition by the UPPCL. Here, a representative of the NTPC said that the company would file a petition with the CERC for the adoption of tariff and provide necessary documents to the UPPCL for the approval of the contracted power. It noted that the NTPC did not provide these documents and went ahead with terminating the PSA for 300 MW of wind power, dated March 25, 2019. It also noted that the UPPC had withdrawn the petition.

Upon analysis, the UPERC issued a stay order on the PSA for 300 MW and all related activities related to it until the petition was disposed of.

It directed the UPPCL to serve the copies of the petitions to NTPC and Mytrah Vayu if it has not done so already and gave the respondents a month to file their responses. Following this, UPPCL is to file its rejoinder two weeks from the date the respondents file their replies. It said that the next hearing for the petition would be held on August 4, 2020.

Previously, the CERC approved tariffs ranging between ₹2.79 (~$0.038)/kWh and ₹2.83 (~$0.039)/kWh for 480 MW of wind power projects (Tranche -VII). The tender was issued by the Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited. Of this, 380 MW was allocated to UPPCL.