Clean Energy Tech Firm Ecozen Raises $30 Million for Global Expansion

SJVN Green Energy Invites Bids to Source Land for 200 MW Solar Projects in Assam

Avaada Inks ₹45 Billion Refinancing Deal for Four Solar Projects in Rajasthan

Daily News Wrap-Up: Application Process for ALMM Inclusion and Renewal

Australia Adds 5.9 GW of Renewable Capacity to the Grid in 2023

POWERGRID Wins Contracts to Evacuate 18 GW of Renewable Energy

MNRE Seeks Feedback on Guidelines for PM-Surya Ghar Rooftop Solar Program

Apple Partners with CleanMax to Power India Operations with Renewable Energy

Explainer: Application Process for ALMM Inclusion and Renewal

EU Member States Sign Solar Charter to Boost Domestic Manufacturing

<p>The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (<a href="https://cercind.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CERC</a>), in a recent order, directed Phelan Energy India RJ, a solar developer, to file its response for the delay of 161 days in seeking review of the Commission’s earlier order. The Commission, in its previous order, had denied compensation because safeguard duty was imposed within a week from the date of the order.</p>
<p>The Commission also directed the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to file its submission within one week after the developer submits its response.</p>
<p>However, the Commission reserved the order on the admissibility of the review petition.</p>
<p>Earlier, Phelan Energy had filed a petition, seeking review of the Commission’s <a href="https://mercomindia.com/four-solar-developers-safeguard-duty-relief-cerc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">order</a> dated October 4, 2019, wherein CERC had restricted the compensation due to the imposition of safeguard duty owing of the delay in payment of the amount to the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor until after the scheduled commissioning date.</p>
<p><strong>Background</strong></p>
<p>Phelan Energy, in its submission, said that it did not get the opportunity to dispute the Commission’s view that compensation of safeguard duty was available only for invoices raised within the scheduled commissioning date.</p>
<p>The developer said that the restriction of claims of safeguard duty until the commercial operation date was held in line with claims under goods and services tax (GST) laws. It may not be correct as the entire concept of ‘time of supply of goods’ as applicable regarding GST laws was not relevant to safeguard duty. The obligation of payment of safeguard duty and determining its rate should be based on the date on which a bill of entry regarding such goods is presented argued the developer.</p>
<p>The developer further added that as per the arrangement with the EPC contractor, the modules were imported by the contractor, and they paid the safeguard duty for the same. All the modules were imported, and liability to pay safeguard duty accrued before the commercial operation date.</p>
<p>The developer argued that the invoicing by the contractor was delayed solely due to operational reasons, and the actual payment of safeguard duty took place after the commercial operation date. As a result, SECI had disallowed the total claims of around ₹54.4 million (~$732,577), citing them to be beyond the commercial operation date even though the bill of entry was December 7 and 8, 2018, which was before the commercial operation date of December 22, 2018.</p>
<p>Regarding the delay in filing the review petition, Phelan Energy said that the delay had occurred because it was occupied in reconciling its account and collecting the details for submission of the incremental impact of the ‘Change in Law’ expenditure, significant management changes, and the outbreak of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown.</p>
<p>SECI, in its reply, said that the Commission had considered the commercial operation date as the cut-off date for consideration of the claims of safeguard duty. Accordingly, evidence had to be produced regarding the solar modules installed before the commercial operation date for claiming the safeguard duty. Despite the contractor having imported the solar modules before the commercial operation date, there was a considerable delay in invoicing.</p>
<p>The nodal agency further added that there were no valid reasons for not paying the safeguard duty by the commercial operation date. Also, the correlation between the modules imported and those that were installed up to the commercial operation date had not been established.</p>
<p><strong>Commission’s analysis</strong></p>
<p>Considering the facts put forward by both the parties, the Commission directed the petitioner to file its submissions on condonation of delay in filing the review petition within a week. Additionally, CERC asked SECI to file its submissions within a week after that.</p>
<p>Earlier, CERC <a href="https://mercomindia.com/cerc-asks-seci-compensate-developer-safeguard-duty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directed</a> SECI to compensate SBG Cleantech Projecto Five for the increased cost incurred due to imposition of safeguard duty under the ‘Change in Law’ clause.</p>
<p>Subscribe to Mercom’s real-time <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-renewable-energy-regulatory-updates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Regulatory Updates</a> to ensure you don’t miss any critical updates from the renewable industry.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Rakesh Ranjan</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rakesh-Headshot-crop-2.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Rakesh Ranjan,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Rakesh Ranjan.</a></p>
</div>
<div class="authorboxn">
<p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rakesh-Headshot-crop-2.jpg" width="77" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Rakesh Ranjan</strong></a> is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Prior to joining Mercom, he worked in many roles as a business correspondent, assistant editor, senior content writer, and sub-editor with bcfocus.com, CIOReview/Silicon India, Verbinden Communication, and Bangalore Bias. Rakesh holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" rel="noopener noreferrer">More articles from Rakesh Ranjan.</a></p>
</div>
</div></div><div class="clearfix"></div></div></div>

CERC Reserves Judgment on Solar Developer’s Safeguard Duty Compensation Plea

phelan-energy

Get the most relevant India solar and clean energy news.

RECENT POSTS