Indian Wind Power Association has written to the Prime Minister seeking relief for outstanding payments worth Rs 1,200 crore from Tamil Nadu State Electricity Board (TNEB).
The electricity board owes the money to many wind power generators in Tamil Nadu. The association has about 1,100 members.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, the Indian Wind Power Association has said that Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation has not paid for the power supplied by windmills from August, 2010. The corporation is part of the state electricity board.
“(Many) Wind power companies (in Tamil Nadu) have not received payments for energy supplied for many months and the outstanding dues (from August 2010 to May 2011) are about Rs 1,200 crore,” the association Chairman Mr K. Kasthurirangaian told PTI.
The association has also requested the release of Rs 1,757 crore from the clean energy fund for wind power generators in Tamil Nadu. Mr Kasthurirangaian noted this allotment would help wind power firms in meeting their capital expenditures.
Idle time
The letter said that wind power already generated is not evacuated due to absence of 230 Kv and 400 Kv sub-stations.
“Even though 1,000 MW of windmills have come in 2010-11, they will remain idle during the high windy time of May to October 2011, when domestic, industrial and agriculture (segments) are starved of energy,” it noted.
“The association has written to the Prime Minister seeking help for wind power producers in Tamil Nadu. We are also in discussions with TNEB,” Ushdev Power Holding's Managing Director Mr Arvind Prasad said.
Ushdev Power Holdings, which has a windmill capacity of 30 MW, is part of the association.
“With non-payment of dues by the TNEB, many wind power producers are finding it difficult to repay their loans to lenders,” Prasad noted.
According to the letter, the corporation should not prolong its evacuation work (for wind power) and it should be completed before March 2012.
Tamil Nadu is one of the largest wind power producers, with capacity of over 5,800 MW.