Uttar Pradesh has become the latest state to renege on winning bids for solar projects, after the Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA) cancelled 184MW worth of projects discovered through auctions. The irony is, developers are not sure if they will get any legal protection against this arbitrary action of UPNEDA and till date, we have not heard about the initiation of any legal proceeding challenging this action of UPNEDA.
In the recent past, we have seen many bid cancellations on the alleged ground of consumer interest. Whatever little precedent we have on bid cancellation matters, we have seen distribution companies heavily rely on the consumer interest ground to justify their action. Surprisingly, the Appellate Tribunal of Electricity (APTEL) in one such dispute justified the cancellation of winning bids. It’s a matter of larger debate whether moving the goalposts is allowed.
