The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission has come out with a draft regulation for the Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) and Renewable Energy Certificate Framework Implementation 2011. The draft will be finalised after a public hearing with the stakeholders.
The draft states the minimum quantum of power that discoms will have to purchase from renewable energy sources for a given year.
According to the DERC draft the companies will have to procure 0.10 per cent of their total purchase from solar energy plants for the financial year 2011-12. The component of green energy rises with each year till 2017, when the component has to be 0.35 per cent of the total energy purchase.
“We cannot define the exact quantity of green energy yet; we are keeping it flexible because though Delhi has a large consumer base, there are limited renewable energy sources. In the draft we have prescribed the proportion of green energy that they should buy, how they do it is up to them [discoms],” said DERC chairman P.D. Sudhakar.
He added: “Other States like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have defined the quantum because they have alternate energy generation capacity like solar power plants and wind energy generation plants. Delhi does not have the space for such large scale renewable energy generation units still, but with the guidelines we have made a beginning somewhere.”
As per the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission guidelines all regulatory commissions have to issue broad guideline on renewable energy purchase and consumption for all States. “We will shortly have a public hearing to get the feedback of consumers, government and discoms. The final guidelines will be issued thereafter,” said Mr. Sudhakar.
The guidelines can also be implemented from the current financial year if a consensual decision is taken. As per the draft each distribution company will have to indicate along with proof, the estimated quantum of purchase from renewable sources for the ensuing year in tariff/annual revenue requirement (ARR) petition.
It also says despite availability of energy from renewable sources under the Power Purchase Agreements or the power exchange mechanism or from its own renewable sources, if the discom fails to fulfil the minimum quantum of purchase from the renewable sources, it will be liable for punitive action as per the regulations.
Delhi is amongst the States with the highest power consumption and each year the growth in consumption is on the rise. “According to the projections made by various agencies including the Central Electricity Authority Delhi will require over 400 million kWh of non-solar renewable power and over 20 million kWh of solar power to fulfil the RPO targets. Delhi barely has any renewable energy generation capacity, barring the smaller plants that have been recently added by the NDPL. To meet the huge gap in the renewable energy targets, the discoms will have to source the green power from other States and till the time Delhi's own generation is increased,” said a Power Department official.
