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India's solar energy company changes bidding policy after Adani bribery claims, says source

An Indian government firm charged with promoting renewable resource has actually altered the way it releases power tenders to minimize the danger of corruption after U.S. claims of bribery in some tenders, said an authorities with direct knowledge of the matter.

The Solar Power Corporation of India (SECI) earns commission for linking renewable energy producers with buyers. It was an intermediary in solar energy offers involving Adani Group and several states where U.S. authorities have said bribes were paid to unknown authorities between 2021 and 2022.

The ports-to-power Adani Group has actually rejected the accusations, calling them unwarranted.

U.S. authorities have actually not accused SECI of any misdeed.

SECI, which selects renewable resource manufacturers for tasks through quotes and then indications deals with power buyers, said last month it had no basis so far to investigate the allegations which it was not clear if any of SECI's covenants have actually been broken.

About 75% of SECI's brand-new quotes for renewable power will now be based upon specific need from states rather of the earlier practice of mainly seeking power suppliers first through tenders and then approaching purchasers, said the SECI official, who did not want to be called, pointing out the level of sensitivity of the matter.

A spokesperson for SECI did not right away respond to a. request for comment outside regular organization hours on Monday.

The authorities said the earlier practice, which utilized to. account for about 90% of the bids, had raised the threat of. corruption by power producers seeking to influence buyers in. states to register to deals even if they did not need the power. The authorities did not name any business or offer any examples.

The source stated SECI had actually not discovered any factor to. independently examine any deals it had actually become part of which. no firm within India or outside had reached out to it.

The claims versus the Adani Group, however, could. temporarily cut foreign financial investments in India's sustainable sector,. said the source, including that SECI anticipated tendering to slow. down for the rest of the that ends on March 31.

SECI's target for this was to discover bidders for. 15 gigawatts (GW) of power, but it has actually managed only about 6-7 GW. so far.

India is still more than 10% short of its pledge to include 175. GW of sustainable power by 2022. It wishes to reach 500 GW by 2030.

(source: Reuters)