Evergreen Renewables Private Limited, an arm of US-based Evergreen Solutions, has moved the Madras High Court against Tangedco’s rejection of its bid in the recent auction to procure 500 MW of wind power.
The firm, part of a consortium, had bid at ₹3.34 per unit, which it said was 2.34% lower than the winning bid price of ₹3.42 per unit in the wind power procurement tender held in August.
Tamil Nadu was the first State to go for competitive auction for wind power. In its petition, the consortium said the reason citied by Tangedco for rejection of its bid was on grounds that it did not meet the net worth criteria and submitted the price bid along with the technical bid.
“The present writ petition is being filed challenging the arbitrary and illegal action of the respondent [Tangedco] in rejecting the bid of the petitioner’s consortium under the Reverse Bidding process tender with respect to establishment of Wind Power Generating Plants in Tamil Nadu for a total of 500 MW on wholly untenable grounds and contrary to the terms of the tender,” it said.
The effect of such rejection, done without proper application of mind, had the direct effect of being contrary to public interest as the petitioner had quoted a price less than the rate at which the Tangedco was seeking to finalise the tenders, it added.
The firm had developed and financed over 3,000 MW of wind and solar projects in the United States since 1999 and was actively developing 350 MW of solar and wind projects in the U.S. It had commissioned the first solar project in India in April 2016, of 11.5MW in Telangana. In the wind sector, it was developing 550 MW projects in the pipeline in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, the petitioner said.
The consortium had bid aggressively in the Tamil Nadu tender due to the advantages it had by way of equipment procurement and vast experience in the field, the petitioner said seeking a stay on the tender process pending disposal of the case.
