IN THE APPELLATE TRIBUNAL FOR ELECTRICITY (Appellate Jurisdiction)

APPEAL No. 110 of 2019 Dated : 16^th May, 2025 Present: Hon’ble Mr. Sandesh Kumar Sharma, Technical Member Hon’ble Mr. Virender Bhat, Judicial Member In the matter of:

Tungabhadra Solar Parks Private Limited

23, Barakhamba Road New Delhi - 110001 …

Appellant Versus

1. Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission No. 16 C-1, Miller Tank Bed Area Vasanth Nagar, Bengaluru – 560052 Through its Secretary

2. Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company Limited Station Road, Kalaburagi Karnataka – 585101 Through its Managing Director …

Respondents Counsel for the Appellant(s) : Sidhharth Silwal Vikas Dutta for App. 1 Counsel for the Respondent(s) : S. Sriranga Ld. Sr. Adv.

Sumana Naganand Garima Jain Nidhi Gupta Tushar Kanti Mohindroo for Res. 2

J U D G M E N T

PER HON’BLE MR. VIRENDER BHAT, JUDICIAL MEMBER

1. The Appellant is aggrieved by the Order dated 17^th December 2018 passed by 1^st Respondent – Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (hereafter referred to as “the Commission”) thereby holding the Appellant not entitled to extension of time for achieving the conditions precedent and upholding the imposition of penalty upon the Appellant by the 2^nd Respondent in terms of Article 4.3 of the PPA executed between the Appellant and the 2^nd Respondent.

2. The Appellant was incorporated as a special purpose vehicle by the single business entity i.e Marikal Solar Parks Private Limited (now renamed as FS – India Devco Private Limited) for developing the 20 MW solar power project allotted at Chikkodi Taluk in Belagavi District, State of Karnataka. The Marikal Solar Power Parks Private Limited in short (“Marikal”) was one of the successful bidders in the bidding proceedings conducted by the Karnataka Renewal Energy Development Limited (KREDL) in accordance with the terms of the Request for Proposal (RFP) dated 20^th November, 2015 for development of three units each of 20 MW capacity solar power project at three different locations viz., Chokkodi Taluk in Belagavi District, Naragund Taluk in Gadag District and Basavana Bagewadi Taluk in Vijayapura District respectively. As noted above, the Marikal promoted and incorporated the Appellant as the special purpose vehicle for developing the 20 MW solar power project at Chokkodi Taluk in Belagavi District. In the same way, the Marikal promoted and incorporated two other SPVs for developing the remaining two solar power project. This appeal is concerned with the 20 MW capacity solar power project allotted in the Chikkodi Taluk for which Appellant was incorporated as SPV.

3. It may be noted here that by way of clarifications issued by KREDL, certain amendments were carried out in the draft PPA as explained in the following table :-

explained in the following table :-

explained in the following table :-

explained in the following table :-

explained in the following table :-

explained in the following table :-

explained in the following table :-

explained in the following table :-

explained in the following table :-

4. It appears that the change in the effective date from the signing of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to the date of approval of the PPA by the Commission was carried out so as to specifically exclude the period taken by the Commission to approve the PPA and to ensure that the bidders/developers would not be under any undue pressure to achieve the Scheduled Commercial Operation Date (SCOD) in case the approval of PPA from the Commission takes time. Thus, time granted to achieve the SCOD would only commence when the PPA is approved by the Commission. As a necessary sequitur, the period allowed for commissioning of the project was reduced from 18 months to 12 months from the effective date i.e. the date of the approval of the PPA by the Commission.

5. KREDL issued a Letter of Award (LOA) and allotment letter dated 23^rd March, 2016 in favour of Marikal which contained the direction to execute the PPA with the 2^nd Respondent within 30 days from the