Green power producers find dealing with RECs unviable in Karnataka.
An article regarding Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission's guidelines which is not in sync with those of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) was highlighted in The Hindu Business Line. The KERC guidelines are also not clear in specifying eligibility criteria. “They do specify intra/inter state open access eligibility criteria for the Renewable Energy (RE) Generator when it sells RE power to a consumer,” says Mr. Santosh Kamat, Co-founder of Auromira Energy, a company that produces electricity from renewable sources. RE producers see a mismatch between the KERC guidelines and those given by the CERC. With regard to eligibility of captive generators for RECs, while the CERC says that captive generators who avail themselves of other benefits such as preferential tariff are not eligible, the KERC guidelines say that such parties are eligible, says Mr Vishal Pandya of REConnect Energy Solutions, a company which provides services in RECs, energy efficiency and electricity portfolio management.
India's Biomass Scenario
In an article in the Business Standard on the current scenario of the biomass plants in India was reported. Burgeoning raw material costs and a mismatch between generation cost and pricing have led biomass power plants to function well below their capacity and, in some cases, end operations. Against an estimated potential of 18,000 MW, the installed capacity of biomass plants in India is 2,664 MW. These plants are in Maharashtra (403 MW), Andhra Pradesh (363 MW), Karnataka (365 MW), Madhya Pradesh (7 MW), Tamil Nadu (488 MW), Punjab (74 MW), Haryana (35 MW), Rajasthan (73 MW), Uttar Pradesh (592 MW), West Bengal (16 MW) and Uttarakhand (10 MW), among others. Industry sources said it was difficult to run these plants, as raw material like forest residue, agricultural waste and non-cattle feed was not available even at Rs 3,000 per tonne.
REC Mechanism Sees Low Issuance
July saw significant new capacity getting registered. Registered projects capacity increased from 406 MW last month to 623 MW. However, our analysis found that very little of that is seeing issuance as of now. Approximately 30,000 RECs were issued this month
Order on APPC of Chhattisgarh declared
Order on Average Pooled Purchase Cost (APPC) by Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Ltd., Bhilai Steel Plant and Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. for the year 2010-11 and 2011-12 was declared recently. The order specified the pooled cost of power