Criticising the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government’s plan to shut down polluting power plants at Badarpur and Rajghat in Delhi, the Union power ministry on Friday said the state has to abide by the relevant power purchase agreements (PPA) and cannot shut plants without “proper planning”.
The Delhi government can shut down the power plants in the state if it commits to paying the fixed costs, Union power minister Piyush Goyal told mediapersons.
“Every government has to honour the PPAs. If they decide to shut it (the plants), they can commit to pay the fixed costs,” Goyal said. The Delhi government has decided to shut down NTPC’s Badarpur plant and Delhi government-owned Rajghat power plant to curb pollution.
The Kejriwal government has not approached the Union power ministry so far on sorting out issues related to PPAs for shutting down the Badarpur power plant, which is one of the measures contemplated to curb the rising pollution in the national capital.
Goyal said the companies’ investment in a power plant is based on the commitments made in the PPAs (by users like utilities or state governments) and they have to recover their investments. Delhi is the only buyer for NTPC’s 720-MW power station.
In the meantime, the power ministry expects most of the states to come on board by March, and another two-three states by May, for the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana(UDAY).
There is enough demand for non-SLR bonds from pension, insurance and mutual funds. UDAY is meant to revive financially-sick state electricity distribution utilities (discoms).
