The jurisdiction over disputes involving intra-State transmission is assigned to the State Commission, not the Central Commission.

ORDER

The Petitioner, Tadas Wind Energy Private Limited has filed the instant Petition under Sections 79 (1)(f) and 79(1)(c) of the Electricity Act, 2003 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’), read with Regulations 8 and 26 of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Open Access in inter-State Transmission) Regulations, 2008 and Detailed Procedure framed thereunder and approved by this Commission, in relation to arbitrary, unlawful and mala fide acts on part of Respondent No.1 SLDC in refusing to process Petitioner’s Application for Standing Clearance for the grant of Short Term Open Access (STOA) for August 2023 and grant the same within timelines stipulated in the Detailed Procedure.

2. The Petitioner has made the following prayers in the present Petition:

(a) Declare that the Petitioner is entitled to and has got deemed approval / standing clearance for STOA its aforesaid power plant (80.8 MW capacity) in terms of its application dated 07.07.2023 (Annexure P-20);

(b) Declare that the Respondent No.1’s demand / mandate to the Petitioner to file seven separate applications for grant of Standing Clearance for STOA for its power plant (80.8 MW capacity) in respect of which the Application dated 07.07.2023 (Annexure P-20) is filed, whether for August 2023 or any other period, is wholly illegal and untenable;

(c) Direct the Respondent No.1 to process applications for grant of open access in relation to its aforesaid power plant (80.8 MW capacity) in accordance with law without insisting on filing seven separate applications for grant of Standing Clearance / STOA for each group of wind-turbines;

(d) Quash the communications dated 07.07.2023, (Annexure P-21), 10.07.2023 (Annexure P-23), 13.07.2023 (Annexure P-24) and 18.07.2023 (query uploaded on NOAR Portal)(Annexure P-25);

(e) Grant costs of this Petition; and

(f) Pass such other and further orders as this Hon’ble Commission may deem fit, in the interest of justice and equity.

Prayer in IA.No.53/2023

(a) Restrain the Respondent No.1 from interfering with injection of electricity into the grid under STOA on the ground that Applicant has submitted single application for grant of standing 212 clearance for STOA in relation to its power plant (80.8 MW capacity);

(b) Direct the Respondent No.1 to accept and process single application for standing clearance in respect of its aforesaid power plant (80.8 MW capacity) without insisting for separate applications to be filed;

(c) Stay the operation of the communications dated 07.07.2023 (Annexure P-21 to the Petition), 10.07.2023 (Annexure P-23 to the Petition), 13.07.2023 (Annexure P-24 to the Petition) and 18.07.2023 (query uploaded on NOAR Portal) (Annexure P-25 to the Petition); and.

(d) pass such other and further orders as this Hon’ble Commission may deem fit, in the interest of justice and equity.

Submissions of the Petitioner

3. The Petitioner has made the following submissions:

a) The Petitioner is a Generating Company operating a wind-energy based power plant spread across several villages in Dharwad and Haveri districts of Karnataka, having a cumulative capacity of 100 MW. The said 100 MW capacity WTGs formed initially part of a 208.8 MW wind-energy based electricity generation plant conceived and developed by Vish Wind Infrastructure Limited (formerly named Logear Machines (I) Limited) and were transferred to the Petitioner, pursuant to approvals granted for such transfer by the Government of Karnataka, vide Government Orders dated 29.03.2012 and 02.05.2012. The Petitioner was granted single evacuation scheme approval on 06.07.2013 an