Former Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy has been arguing that his government reached a solar power purchase agreement with Govt. Of India’s Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and there were no deals with Gautam Adani, who was indicted by a US court alleging payment of huge bribes to Jagan. Jagan repeatedly stated that there was no third party involvement in this deal.
However, even before receiving any letter of offer from SECI, the energy department had prepared proposals to undertake the solar power project through SECI. Although the Green Energy Corporation (GECL), set up by the state government itself, had already received bids to supply the unit at Rs. 2.49, it is reported that the then Chief Minister’s Office was involved in setting them aside and preparing new proposals.
According to reliable sources, on September 14, 2021, instructions were received from the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister’s Office to prepare proposals to undertake a 10 gigawatt solar power project through SECI. Shortly after receiving these orders, similar orders were received from the Office of the Chief Secretary to the Government.
The gist of these orders was to prepare proposals to be presented in the Cabinet meeting. It is understood that there was some confusion among the officials of the Energy Department as the orders were received from the highest level to prepare proposals without any offer from the SECI. The first proposals from SECI were received by the Energy Department on September 15, 24 hours after receiving the orders from the highest officials.
In this offer letter, SECI stated that it would supply solar power at Rs. 2.49 per unit, for which GECL had already received bids. It said that it would supply a total of 9 gigawatts of electricity, and that it would supply 3 gigawatts per year for three years from 2024 to 2026.
The next day (September 16) was the Cabinet meeting, and before that meeting, the Energy Department officials had only one day left. With this, it is said that the officials had prepared proposals in haste. It is reported that they had consulted the Power Coordination Committee within that short time and also brought it to the attention of the Finance Department.
The Energy Department suggested that the suggestions made by those departments should be incorporated and that keeping in mind the long-term developments, discussions should be held with SEKI and only then further steps should be taken. The same issue was clearly mentioned in the Cabinet note file. However, it is reported that the then government instructed the Energy Department to move forward with SEKI without any mention of discussions.