OERC notifies changes to the RPO obligation for Captive Power Producers

Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) in a recent notification has made changes for the RPO obligation for Captive Power Producers (CPPs). Following a clarification made by the Ministry of Power in the tariff policy dated April 2018, which had mentioned that 
“For CPPs commissioned before 01.04.2016, RPO should be at the level as mandated by the appropriate commission for the year 2015-2016. For CPPs commissioned from 01.04.2016 onwards, the RPO level as mandated by the appropriate Commission or MInistry of Power, whichever is higher, for the year commissioning of the CPP shall be applicable.
In case of any augmentation in the capacity, the RPO for augmented capacity shall be the RPO applicable for the year in which the CPP has been augmented. 
In case, for meeting the RPO obligation, CPP has surplus power than its consumption requirement, such a CPP may sell its surplus power to the DISCOMs under the prevailing arrangements or in the power exchanges.”
OERC had announced their regulation called “ Procurement of energy from renewable sources and its compliance, Regulations 2015. Regulation 4.2 of the above regulation states that year-wise RPO for all the obligated entities including electricity consumed from a captive generating plant for own use.

For projects commissioned from 01.04.2016 onwards, the RPO will be fixed at the level of the year of project commissioning as per the OERC Regulations, 2015. Further, if any new capacity is added to the project, the RPO for the newly added capacity will be decided by OERC for the year the capacity was commissioned.
In case any surplus power is generated more than the requirement from the Captive Generating Plant, such surplus power will be sold to the DISCOMs/GRIDCOs or any other consumer as per the arrangement in the regulations towards their RPO.
Earlier in December Himachal Pradesh Electricity Commission also announced changes to their RPO obligation for CPPs following the notification form Ministry of Power.
Odisha currently has a total installed RE capacity of approximately 521 MW in the state as of December 2019 according to MNRE.