YSRCP-led Andhra government signed Adani deal after Modi govt eased terms

This comes at a time when the United States Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission On November 20, 2024, issued an indictment and a civil complaint in the New York district court against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain, key functionaries of Adani Green Energy Ltd.

The Andhra Pradesh government has reportedly signed a deal with Central utility Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) within 24 hours of the Union power ministry waiving transmission charges for states buying electricity from Adani Green and Azure Power.

SECI has provided 2 giga watt (GW) projects to these two companies.

The waiver of the inter state transmission system has incentivised states to buy from these two projects since it has resulted in a saving of 80 paise per unit (Rs 1,360 crore a year), as per a report in The Indian Express.

"The ISTS waiver was embedded by SECI in the manufacturing-linked tender to put it on equal footing vis-a-vis other renewable energy tenders of the time… It is important to note that it is the DISCOM that benefits from the ISTS waiver, not the project developer, who only receives a fixed tariff," an Adani Green spokesperson told the publication.

On November 30, 2021, the power ministry eased two conditions from an earlier order. As per these changes, i) the project had to be commissioned before June 30, 2025, and (ii) the power from the project be within the renewable power obligation (RPO) of the state. RPO requires states to buy a certain percentage of its total power from renewable sources, IE reported.

The source told IE: "the first 1,000 MW of Adani Green power is expected to be commissioned only in April 2025, with the balance beyond June 2025."

ISTS charges are applied when power is wheeled between states using the national grid.

This comes at a time when the United States Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) On November 20, 2024, issued an indictment and a civil complaint in the New York district court against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain, key functionaries of Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL).

The charges relate to allegations of securities fraud, wire fraud and violation of the SEC guidelines that led to materially false and misleading statements in the bond offering documents of AGEL with respect to anti-bribery and anti-corruption policies.

Adani Group had issued a statement denying all allegations as baseless, and said it would seek legal recourse to defend itself.

(With PTI inputs)