APERC Proposes Draft Amendment for RPO Regulation

Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC), joint commission for the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, has proposed separate drafts for the amendment in its Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) Regulation 2012, for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The summary of the proposed amendments for the both the states is as below:

1. According to the proposed draft, the commission proposed to remove the .25% solar purchase obligation for distribution licensee & captive generating plants out of the total of 5% RPO, and has proposed that RPO shall be fulfilled by purchase of any renewable source of energy.
2. The commission has proposed that the Lapsed Banked Energy (Renewable) as according to Open Access regulation 2006 shall be considered towards the RPO of the distribution licensee.
3. Consumption from captive co-generation power plant, is exempted for levy of RPO.

The commission has also proposed changes in eligibility of and registration for REC’s, which are highlighted below –

1. The power generating plant shall be of 1 MW and above capacity for obtaining accreditation from the state agency.
2. A roof top or ground mounted solar power plant of 100 kW and above, shall be eligible for obtaining RECs for the entire generation from such plant.
3. The entire electricity generated from Captive Power Plant & Co-Generation Plants based on Renewable Sources of Energy, including self-consumption shall be eligible for issue of REC’s.
4. In case of pre-mature termination of the power purchase agreement (PPA) with a consumer or DISCOM, a generator will not be eligible for REC’s for three years, starting from the date of termination of the agreement.

The proposed draft will directly affect the solar power generators as the Solar RPO has been merged with Non-solar RPO in the state. In our opinion, since the floor price of solar REC’s are much higher, the obligated entities will not purchase solar REC at all.

In contrast to Tamil Nadu, which has moved to Supreme Court, with a clear objective of implementing Solar Purchase Obligation (SPO) of 6% in the state, APERC does not seem to be in favour of incentivising solar power by having separate RPO status for solar in the two states. In addition to this, the cap of 1 MW on Non-Solar and 100 KW on Solar projects, will only deter smaller projects from coming up in future.

The commission through separate Public notices for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, has invited the comments and suggestions by 08^th September 2014.

The Draft Proposed for Andhra Pradesh can be accessed here

The Draft Proposed for Telangana can be accessed here

Contributed by Dheeraj Babariya