Gujarat government purchased electricity worth Rs 8,160 crore from Adani Power in 2021-22: Assembly told

The state government revised upwards the unit rates under its power purchase agreement from the company because of a rise in the cost of imported coal, he said.

Since the project was coal-based, the said power company was not producing energy in full capacity because of "unscheduled increase in the price of coal sourced from Indonesia after 2011", Desai said.

"Considering this, a high-powered committee was formed by the state government. The government vide resolution dated December 1, 2018 approved the increase in power purchase rates by accepting the recommendations of the committee, with a few amendments, as a policy decision," he said.

Accordingly, a supplementary agreement was signed with Adani Power on December 5, 2018, which was approved by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission through an order dated April 12, 2019, he said.

Further revision was made in 2021 due to the increase in international coal prices, he said.

Meanwhile, due to excessive hikes in prices of imported coal at the global level, most of the imported coal-fired power projects at the national level shut down generation, as the contract/supplemental agreement was not affordable, he said.

To avoid the said situation and to meet the growing demand of the entire country, the central government ordered to run the imported coal-based power project at full capacity under section 11 of the Electricity Act 2003 by order dated May 5, 2011, the minister said.

In order to meet the state's power demand from all available sources, sufficient power was procured from Adani Power (Mundra) under the principle of merit order, he said.