TN Govt. Approaches Supreme Court against APTEL Order
Tamil Nadu Government has filed a petition in Supreme Court against the order of the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) dated 21st January 2014. The order says that state government cannot specify solar power obligation (SPO) for special category of consumers (applicable for all obligated entities except TANGEDCO), when there already exists Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) for the consumers in the state.
Background – The Govt. of Tamil Nadu drafted its solar policy (announced in 2012), mandating certain consumer to buy solar power, which was finalized by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) in its order dated 7th March 2013. The order stated that – “As prescribed in the Solar Policy, 6% SPO starting with 3% SPO till December 2013 and 6% from January 2014 is applicable”.
The Tamil Nadu Spinning Mills Association appealed to APTEL for the removal of the Solar Purchase Obligation as RPO does mandate purchase of solar power.
The APTEL in its judgment said that the state commission cannot impose any other obligation such as SPO, as RPO already exists in the state. So the State Govt. has moved to the Supreme Court challenging this , as it clearly intends to impose SPO under its Solar Policy.
It is also worth noting that TNERC has mandated RE purchase to a total of 9% under its RPO regulation, which is one of the highest in India, with 0.05% Solar RPO and 8.95% Non-Solar RPO. The commission in its draft RPO Regulation 2014, has increased the solar RPO to 2% and total to 11%, to bolster Solar Power in the state in case SPO is not implemented.
Our Previous Blog Post on the same matter can be read here.
The recent media Article can be read here.
Preceding APTEL Order is available here.
Contributed by Dheeraj Babariya.