OERC Order on RPO Compliance

The Green Energy Association and Orissa Renewable Energy Development Agency had filed a petition in the matter of non-compliance of RPO by obligated entities in OERC. The respondents GRIDCO and NALCO quoted the same reason of non-availability of RECs in the market for failure in meeting the obligation, even though the RECs were available at floor prices.

Green Energy Association submitted that imposition of RPO should not be relaxed in any manner for any of the obligated entities. It has submitted that the provision in the Regulation like power to relax and power to remove difficulties should be exercised judiciously only on exceptional circumstances as per the law and should not be used routinely which would otherwise defeat the object and purpose of the Regulation. Non-availability of REC should be a pre-condition to carry forward the RPO of the OERC (Renewable Purchase Obligation and its compliance) Regulations, 2010. They requested the Commission, not to consider fossil fuel based Co-generation plant under the category of renewable energy and to consider non-fossil fuel based topping up cycle Co-gen plants under renewable energy category.

After reviewing the submitted documents from both the petitioner and the respondents the Commission gave the following order:

• The reasons advanced by parties for non-fulfillment of RPO obligation are unjustified and Commission is not inclined to grant any exception on this matter.
• The obligated entities are allowed to carryover their renewable and co-generation purchase obligation upto 31.03.2015 till 31.08.2016. If they do not purchase the obligated quantity of power, they can purchase REC at least 5% of the obligation per month upto 31.03.2015 from August, 2015 on wards and must comply the arrear obligation in full by 31.08.2016. No further extension of time shall be granted to carry forward the renewable purchase obligation in any circumstance.
• All the obligated entities shall submit compliance report quarterly to OREDA within the above time frame. OREDA shall also submit the quarterly compliance report to the Commission after due scrutiny.
• All obligated entities mentioned in the RPO Regulations, 2010 shall comply with the said Regulations henceforth.

This order superseded all other previous orders issued by the Commission in this regard.

The reason for non- compliance of RPO by the respondents is found inappropriate by the commission, because as per the REC inventory there are 2598847 Solar RECs available in the market as of now.

The table below gives the solar RPO targets for Orissa from year 2012-13 to 2015-16

It is expected that in line with the order, GRIDCO and other obligated entities will comply with the RPO targets, and thus we expect a surge in demand for Solar RECs in the coming months.

The Commission’s order can be accessed here.

The Commission’s order can be accessed here.