Maharashtra Cross-Subsidy Declared
The ongoing cross-subsidy issue in Maharashtra, which was also the subject of a Supreme Court judgement recently, seems to have been resolved. MERC came out with an order on the subject on September 9. The highlights are: Cross-subsidy (CSS) has been determined as
REC Trading Update – August 2011
In August's REC trade, both prices and demand volume increased significantly from last month. REC demand last month was about 96,000, while it almost doubled to over 183,000 in August. This is perhaps the most significant indicator for the REC markets,
Himachal Pradesh RPO regulation's first amendment
Honorable Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (HPERC) declared its Renewable Power Purchase Obligation regulation's first amendment. Following are the key highlights of the regulation: Previously the RPPO was defined till financial year 2011-13, now they have changed and declared the new RPPO
CERC Declares New REC Floor and Forbearance Price for FY 2012-2017
Honorable Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has declared new floor and forbearance price for REC (Solar and Non Solar) for the control period of FY 2012-2017 (the order is available here). The Commission has considered the comments of the stakeholders
REC Trading Date for August and October 2011 Amended
Since the last Wednesday, the usual day for RECs trading, in August and October is a holiday, CERC has clarified that trading will take place on the next working day. The order can be found here.
TNERC's Regulation on REC/RPO
Honorable Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) declared its much awaited RPO/REC amendment regulation. Following are the key highlights of the regulation: RPO Reduced from 14% to 9% (8.95 Non-Solar + 0.05% Solar) for FY 2011-12 Eligibility Criteria for RE CPP as per
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 Price Bands May Remain Unchaged
CERC is considering leaving the REC price bands unchanged (the limits within which RECs are traded), and also extending the control period from the current three years, reported the Business Standard. CERC had come out with a draft order suggesting
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