SECI, the central PSU at heart of Adani bribery allegations
NEW DELHI: Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), the company at the heart of the Adani group bribery scandal in the US, is a central PSU ‘dedicated to the development and expansion of Renewable Energy (RE) capacity in India’. According to the website of the company, SECI is one of the Renewable Energy Implementing Agencies (REIAs) of India.
A US district court has found that Adani Green Energy had signed a Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA) with SECI, under which the Adani Group company was supposed to supply 12 GW of solar power to SECI.
Solar Energy Corporation of India, in turn, was supposed to find purchasers among the Indian discoms to buy the electricity supplied by Adani Group.
After SECI failed to find buyers for power supplied by Adani Green, Gautam Adani and other members of his company personally approached ‘officials’ from state DISCOMs, and offered bribes worth over Rs 2,000 crore to convince them to buy power from SECI.
In one particular instance, Adani Group officials have allegedly paid Rs 1,750 crore to officials of Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Distribution company.
SECI was incorporated in 2011 as a not-for-profit company (Sec. 25 of the Companies Act, 1956) and converted to a commercial company in 2015 (Sec. 3 of Companies Act, 2013). Since its inception in 2011, the company has established a pan-India presence in almost all states and Union Territories; where SECI has always met its payments commitments.
SECI serves as an implementing agency for the development of Solar, Wind and Hybrid Projects as part of fulfilling the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
SECI releases tenders for the selection of Renewable Energy (RE) developers for the establishment of Projects on a Pan-India or State-specific basis. The selection process for successful bidders is conducted through a tariff-based competitive e-bidding procedure.
Once selected, SECI enters into a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the chosen bidders for the procurement of power from these projects. Further, SECI establishes back-to-back 25-year Power Sale Agreements (PSA) with DISCOMs/buying entities for the sale of the procured power.
In FY24, SECI purchased solar power worth Rs 12,414 crore and made a profit of Rs 460 crore.