Chennai: State electricity minister Natham R. Viswanathan on Saturday dismissed the allegations made by former TNERC member S. Nagalsamy that there were irregularities in procurement of solar power and thermal power on long-term basis causing a huge loss to Tangedco.
In a statement, the minister accused Nagalsamy of making false charges against the government after his attempt to become the chairman of TNERC failed. As far as, solar power procurement is concerned, he said that there was no limit of 20 MW was fixed to procure power at a cost of Rs 7.01 per unit.
The renewable purchase obligation would be revised every year and it was fixed at 8 per cent for 2018-19 from 0.5 per cent in 2015-16, he said, noting that for this fiscal year, Tangedco required 1200 MW solar power capacity to achieve 2.5 per cent RPO target. He clarified that out 648 MW solar plant signed by Adani, only 313 MW capacity was commissioned.
On the charges of irregularities in procuring 3,330 MW of thermal power on long term basis, he said that there was no violation in floating of tenders for power procurement as it was done with the approval of TNERC.
The power procurement agreement was signed at a levelised tariff of Rs 4.91 per unit, he said, adding that there was no irregularities in procurement.
