Solar Case

[Fidelia Boldul]

ProcessComplete Financial Analysis; Issue Request for Proposal (RFP); Obtain Local and State Approvals; Obtain Grid Connection; Community Involvement; Design, Operation and Maintenance Provisions; Sell Power

The project makes use of allowable net metering in Maryland, where the solar generator can receive a discount on energy bills for the amount of energy generated in excess of its needs. In this case, the project made use of virtual net metering, which allows for multiple energy users to purchase power from a solar generator, where all of the energy users gain access to net metering. The City ultimately used the power to provide for virtual net metering at 114 energy accounts.

As part of the financial agreement, the developer sells power and solar renewable energy certificates (RECs) while earning federal energy credits1 for the project. The energy savings for purchasers originate from only paying the distribution costs (e.g., for small accounts, the savings is four cents per kWh). Each purchaser has a separate negotiated rate.

The City earns $15,000/year per MW of power capacity (except for the portion purchased by the City) plus $10,000/year for the lease of the land to the solar developer. The City has a 20-year contract agreement with the developer; everything escalates by 2% per year based on the federal energy price inflation index.

Given that the City planned to site the solar project on a brownfield, the City needed approval from the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE). In this case, the City demonstrated to MDE that the solar project would not puncture or otherwise damage the cap on the closed landfill. MDE then provided the City a letter of acceptance for the project to move forward; no permit was needed.

The City met with the power company (BG&E) to connect to the grid, in this case, to create a substation about one mile from the grid. The original cost estimate was $8 million, but after significant high-level negotiations dropped to $3 million. In retrospect, the City realized that it should have met with BG&E prior to issuing its RFP given that reaching agreement for connection to the grid was not a foregone conclusion.

Rolling Knolls is nearby. The solar park is not very visible from the community. The City held a community meeting, but the remote project location and lack of view impacts made the project non-controversial. There may be a view of the solar park from the community during the winter months when the deciduous trees lose their leaves. There was some noise during construction, but no ongoing noise can be heard from off-site at this time. In addition to being helped by being located in a relatively remote location, there were no other major desired uses for the property, which also helped to limit controversy.

The City and the solar developer experienced difficulty finding enough customers to purchase the power. The solar developer cannot get bank financing unless enough customers are found to purchase power.

Before issuing an RFP, complete any rezoning needed to accommodate the project; contact the power company beforehand; obtain an agreement from the power company to connect to the grid, including obtaining an accurate cost estimate and reaching consensus regarding virtual net metering rules; and decide how to obtain assurances of selling the generated power.

Pre-determine code requirements that will be applicable to the project so you can head-off and prepare for any potential delays or complications, including Planning and Zoning, Building Department, and Fire Marshal. Contact Fire Marshal early on to discuss requirements. Contact MDE to determine requirements and process early on.

Narrow the scope of the RFP to focus the respondents on what the project goals are (for example, to just focus on solar versus all types of renewable energy). Recommend adding to the RFP that the respondent/developer needs to show who the power purchasers (customers) will be.

Solar projects like this one require much local government staff involvement over all aspects of the project, including hand holding with the developer, and collaboration with the local utility and the environmental regulatory agency. Also, the Annapolis Solar Park may have required more involvement than is typical because the project was located within a separate jurisdiction so there was the added element of City and County coordination.

The State of Maryland pledges to provide constituents, businesses, customers, and stakeholders with friendly and courteous, timely and responsive, accurate and consistent, accessible and convenient, and truthful and transparent services.

The 2013 Kerala solar panel scam occurred in 2013, when a solar energy company, Team Solar, in Kerala, India, used two women to create political contacts with links including to the Chief Minister's office. The company duped several influential people to the tune of 70 lakhs, by offering to make them business partners, or by offering to install solar power units for them, and receiving advance payments for the same. Team Solar was unsuccessful in lobbying Kerala Govt to get their firm included in ANERT programmes.

Five persons have been arrested in connection with this scam. The chief accused, Saritha Nair[8] and one of the Chief Minister's personal aides Tenny Joppan[9] has been fired and arrested. The director of the Public Relations Department, who allegedly received Rs 500,000 from the Team Solar man, has been suspended and has gone underground fearing arrest. Other people accused in the case, who have been arrested include Biju Radhakrishnan,[10] and Malayalam movie/TV actress and dancer, Shalu Menon.[11]

Biju Radhakrishnan was already caught in a case pertaining to the murder of his wife Rashmi. However, despite having evidence of his involvement in the murder, he was not arrested[12] After his arrest, at Coimbatore, by the Kollam Crime Branch CID, he admitted to Rashmi's murder by giving her poisoned liquor.[13]

Saritha Nair was a director of the Team Solar Renewable Energy Co. and an accomplice of the Biju Radhakrishnan in the Solar Scam.[14] She was arrested on the complaint of one of the persons who she had defrauded, in Ambalapuzha[15]She later requested the Economic Offences court where her case is being heard, that she wanted to give a secret statement,[16] which would help to broaden the scope of the investigation. Her attorney, Fenny Balakrishnan termed the revelations as very crucial and capable of changing the direction of the investigation. She was released on bail in February 2014.[17] Her name reappeared in the news after her scandal video was released and went viral on social media including WhatsApp on 12 October 2014. On 2 June 2015 her short film Anthyakoodasha was released on YouTube, which has crossed 500k views as on 18 May 2016.

Television and film actress Shalu Menon, a close associate of Biju Radhakrishnan, initially denied any knowledge or relationship with Biju Radhakrishnan. Photographs showing the two of them posing together or Biju handing over keys to a new vehicle she had purchased recently were explained away, on TV, as pictures taken at his request.[18] Later, she came under the scanner of the Police and was arrested upon concluding that she was also an accomplice to the scam and had used her popularity to entice customers into parting with their money. She was released on bail in August 2013.[19]

Tenny, an aide and personal staff member of Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was arrested on charges of cheating, for aiding Biju Radhakrishnan and Saritha for defrauding a businessman, Sreedharan Nair, to the tune of 40 Lakh Indian Rupees. He was released on bail in August 2013.[19]

A. Firoz, a government servant, surrendered himself on 18 July, after the court rejected his plea for anticipatory bail. He was accused of helping to dupe a builder of 4 million Rupees along with Biju and Saritha, by claiming one of them was an ADB official and they could arrange a contract with the ADB. He was suspended from service after his name surfaced as one of the accomplices of Biju.[20]

Allegations against the Chief Minister Oommen Chandy have been raised, due to phone calls made by his personal staff and forged letters[23] which were used by the fraudsters to defraud customers. The issue snowballed when Sridharan Nair, a quarry owner, claimed that he had met the Chief Minister, at his office, along with Saritha, during which the Chief Minister encouraged investments in renewable energy.[24] The Chief Minister refuted these claims on the floor of the Assembly, stating that the only time he met Sridharan Nair was as a representative of Quarry owners.Later on all allegations against the chief minister was proved false and was dismissed. [25] The allegations are being used by the opposition LDF as a reason to stall the proceedings of the Kerala Legislative Assembly[26] and demand the resignation of the Kerala Chief Minister.[27]

Mounting pressure on Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to tender for a judicial investigation and thereby his resignation over the solar scam, the CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) on 12 August 2013, had conducted an indefinite, allegedly illegal siege on the state secretariat which lasted for 30 hours.[28][29] The siege was addressed by Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) chief H.D Deve Gowda and CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat. The activists of the LDF, who blocked three entry and exit gates of the Kerala Secretariat and claimed that the fourth will be blocked later in that day.[30] The Left Democratic Front in Kerala had demanded a judicial investigation in the scam, which was later allowed by the government which led to the conclusion of the siege.

The Crime Branch appointed by First Vijayan ministry in the year 2018 found that there was no evidence against Oommen Chandy in the scam.[31][32] As part of the procedures, the state home secretary T. K. Jose had forwarded a report to the central government.[32] According to the report, no evidence could be collected against Chandy and the Crime Branch failed to confirm that the incident mentioned in the complaint actually happened.[32] The case was handed over to the central agency after several teams of the Kerala Police, repeatedly failed to prove the allegations against Chandy.[31]

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