At a recent meeting of Southern constituents, the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Ltd. (Tangedco) has pointed out that the Coastal Andhra Power Limited (CAPL) has filed a case seeking ₹1,053 crore in damages over non-commissioning of ultra-mega power projects of 6X600 MW at Krishnapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, and termination of the power purchase agreement and sought for a joint fight on the issue.
CAPL was the successful bidder to build the plant, and erstwhile Andhra Pradesh had a 40% allocation of power from the project, while Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra had an allocation of 20% each.
Tangedco pointed out that Andhra Pradesh had terminated the agreement being a lead procurer and sought its reasons. The main issue for not setting up the plant was due to a shift in Indonesian coal law, according to the minutes of the meeting.
A liquidated damages amount of ₹400 crore was imposed on the company due to a failure in bringing in the project, and the power purchase agreement was terminated. The beneficiaries have invoked bank guarantee while a balance of ₹100 crore has to be recovered from CAPL towards liquidated damages, it noted.
CAPL has filed a case before the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) blaming Andhra Pradesh for not providing the land for ash transportation and has also sought for a return of ₹300 crore along with interest.
Tangedco pointed out that the damages claimed by CAPL was huge and asked the power utility to prepare a proper reply for the petition without any further delay. Andhra Pradesh has assured it would seek the help of Tangedco in filing reply to CAPL’s petition.