The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has barred Reliance Power Ltd and all its subsidiaries from participating in future tenders to be issued by it for the next three years, citing “fake” bank guarantees submitted by the Anil Ambani-backed company in the last renewable energy (RE) bidding round.
SECI, the official agency to implement RE projects, had invited bids and issued Request for Selection (RfS) for setting up of 1 gigawatt (GW) solar power and 2 GWh of standalone battery energy storage system project under the tariff-based competitive bidding in June. The tendering process was then annulled following the discrepancies found in the e-Reverse auction in the bid submitted by Reliance NU BESS Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Power.
In response to the development, Reliance Power in an exchange filing on Thursday said that the company and its subsidiaries acted bonafidely and have been a victim of fraud, forgery and cheating conspiracy.
“A criminal complaint in this regard has already been lodged with the Economic Offence Wing of Delhi Police against the third party on October 16, 2024. The due process of law will follow,” the company said.
“The Company will take all appropriate legal steps to challenge the unwarranted action of SECI in the interest of its more than 40 lakh shareholders,” it added.
SECI had said in a statement: “Based on the examination of documents submitted by M/s Maharashtra Energy Generation Limited (the “Bidder”), now known as M/s Reliance NU BESS Limited under the above RfS, it was discovered that as per the tender requirements, the endorsement of the Bank Guarantee against EMD (issued by a foreign Bank), as submitted by the Bidder, was fake.” “Since the above discrepancy was discovered subsequent to the e-Reverse Auction, SECI was constrained to annul the tendering process,” it added.
SECI noted that the bidder, being a subsidiary of Reliance Power, had met the Financial Qualification Requirements using the strength of its parent company.
Reliance Power has a total commissioned capacity of 5.3 GW with projects spanning across coal, gas, hydro, and other renewable energy sources. It had recently announced that its subsidiary, Rosa Power Supply Company has fully repaid its remaining debt of Rs 485 crore to Singapore-based Varde Partners and aims to leverage this strengthened financial position to explore growth opportunities in clean energy, aligning with industry trends towards sustainability.
From: financialexpress
Financial News