Discoms creating problems for solar access developers

According to sources, the tedious and time-consuming long-term open access (LTOA) renewal process and other issues related to sanctions, was causing problems to open access developers in the State.

Hyderabad: At a time when solar open access is gaining ground in many States in the country, the inordinate delay in adhering to regulatory frameworks by distribution companies (DISCOMS) is creating bottlenecks for developers with small capacity in the State.

Open access is a mechanism through which consumers with a connected load (sum of all loads) of 1 MW or more can directly purchase energy from the generators or open market instead of distribution companies.

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According to sources, the tedious and time-consuming long-term open access (LTOA) renewal process and other issues related to sanctions, was causing problems to open access developers in the State.

The developers complain that the Discoms authorities were creating a lot of problems in giving permissions due to which their projects were getting delayed. According to the regulations, the solar open-access applications must be disposed of in 30 days, but it is taking up to 4-5 months, it is learnt.

Solar open access developers claim that, DISCOMs often impede renewable generation by consistently forcing developers to back down on generation and delay the grant of open access approvals despite being a statutory requirement.

The developers allege that since the Discoms, which are running in losses, would lose business due to solar open access projects were knowingly creating hurdles so that they backout from the projec.

DISCOMs are reluctant to encourage direct power procurement by corporates as they do not want to lose their most profitable consumers, they added.

” DISCOMs’ inefficiency has been threatening the viability of many renewable energy projects in the State,” a developer stated.

Most of the solar open-access projects in the State are under 10 MW, with the average capacity being 3-4 MW. The State has 328.5 MW of cumulative open-access solar capacity, with the government-owned Singareni Collieries owning over 200 MW of the projects and private players operating the rest.