Custom html block

Renewable Energy

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.

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.