TNERC has denied permission to TANGEDCO to sign power purchase agreement The country’s first solar energy park under the public-private partnership mode launched at Kavanoor near here with much fanfare last year, has hit the road block as the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) has denied permission to TANGEDCO to sign power purchase agreement (PPA). The Raasi Green Earth Energy Private Ltd (RGEE) had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) in the presence of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in December 2012 for establishing the Rs. 920 crore solar energy park. At the boomi pooja ceremony held in July, C.Narasimhan, Chairman of RGEE, had said they had acquired about 500 acres of land and the park would generate 70 MW of power in January and reach its full capacity of 100 MW in April this year. However, the project ran into trouble and failed to take off. Sources here said the TNERC had denied permission to the TANGEDCO to sign PPA with RGEE on the ground that the rate of Rs. 8.33 per unit of power quoted by the private firm was on the higher side. The statutory body also delayed taking decision on the issue in the absence of its Chairman or members at one time or the other, the sources alleged. “It is totally wrong on the part of the TNERC and TANGEDCO to delay the project after the RGEE had signed the letter of intend with TANGEDCO,” the source said. The RGEE had worked out the production cost of one MW of power at Rs. 8 crore, while the TNERC was relying on an ‘anonymous draft’ which quoted the cost at Rs. 6.25 crore, the sources added. As the project could not take off, Mr. Narasimhan proposed to seek the intervention of the Chief Minister later this week, the source said. He had moved the Prime Minister’s Office for getting long term funding for solar energy projects with low interest and arranged a summit in Chennai in February to invite investments from central funding agencies but has postponed the event. When contacted, Mr. Narasimhan said RGEE had executed the project after entering into an Engineering Procurement Contract (EPC) with Larsen and Toubro, but the delay has caused lot of anxiety among companies, which evinced interest in setting up their units in the park. “If the PPA is signed by the end of this month, we will start generating power in the next three and a half months…before April we can generate 50 MW and by May, another 50 MW,” he told The Hindu over phone on Thursday. It is the country’s first solar energy park under the public-private partnership mode Intervention of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa is to be sought later this week