ACME says can’t supply cheapest solar power

NEW DELHI: The company that had offered to supply the cheapest solar power in India wants to cancel the project, citing uncertainty following the Covid-19 pandemic.ACME Solar had won the 600 MW project in Rajasthan by offering to sell power at Rs 2.44 a unit, in an auction conducted by Solar Energy Corp of India (SECI) in 2018. It has now approached the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, seeking to invoke the force majeure clause to prevent SECI and Power Grid Corp of India, with which it has a transmission pact, from encashing bank guarantees. Both SECI and Power Grid have opposed the move.The petition seeks termination of contracts due to “outbreak of Covid-19 and its adverse impact on manufacturing facilities of suppliers since December 2019, including lockdown in China and India.” ET has seen a copy of the petition.SECI said it would contest plausibility of invoking force majeure. “Even if there is such an event, its effect is continuing for more than three months,” SECI told the company, as per the petition. “When things return to normal, cost involved will be very high, making the project unviable,” one of the people involved in the matter told ET, on condition of anonymity as the matter is sub judice.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2Zmr2ba