Procuring wind energy through bids a positive for sector:ICRA

My View:

With the procurement of wind power through auction route will help the developer to get the offtakers.

The proper implementation of UDAY will help to get the timely payment from the DISCOM to wind developers.

If the auction goes well,it will help to achieve the target of wind power of 60 GW by 2022.



News:

The scheme for procurement of wind energy through auction is a positive for the sector but receivables (payment delays by discoms) remain an area of concern, says ICRA.

"In ICRA s view, continuing delays in the payments by the state-owned distribution utilities (discoms) in key states such as Maharashtra and Rajasthan pose a challenge for the wind energy sector, although some improvement has been seen lately," ICRA said in a statement.

On the positive side, however, ICRA believes that the MNRE scheme for procurement of 1 GW through the auction route would facilitate the offtake for wind energy players, it added.

ICRA Ratings Senior VP Sabyasachi Majumdar, said in the statement, "While there has been some improvement in payment pattern by utilities in Rajasthan, with the implementation of UDAY (Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana) as well as by the utility in Maharashtra in the last three month, a build-up in receivable position is seen, which varies from 8 to 12 months as on November 2016 and thus remains quite significant.

In addition to payment delays by state utilities, wind energy projects remain vulnerable to the risk of non-signing of power purchase agreements (PPAs) by the utilities as seen in Maharashtra and forced back down by utilities in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu."

Further, implementation of forecasting and scheduling framework, as approved by State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) in Karnataka and in other states where draft regulations are in place, poses regulatory challenges for the sector, given the variable and intermittent nature of wind power generation and limited experience available with IPPs in forecasting and scheduling as of now, the statement said.

Also, the sector continues to face challenges due to the limited compliance of renewable purchase obligation (RPO) norms by the obligated entities as well as the variance in RPO norms across the states, it added.

Notwithstanding these near-term challenges, the long-term demand potential for wind power remains strong, given the large untapped potential, fairly attractive feed-in tariffs and relatively lower execution risks.

ICRA notes that the incremental wind-based energy capacity requirement by FY2022 is estimated at about 46 GW as against the current installed capacity of 28.1 GW.

This is assuming annual energy demand growth of 6 per cent, non-solar RPO at 12.5 per cent by FY2022 and wind as a renewable energy (RE) resource contributing to a dominant share (75%) in meeting the non-solar RPO requirement on an all India basis, it said.

"ICRA further favourably notes that the scheme for award of 1 GW through the auction route by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) would facilitate the consumption of wind-based generation by distribution utilities in states with limited wind energy resources.

"This, apart from reducing the offtake risks for wind energy players, would enable the distribution utilities in such states to honour their non-solar RPO requirement to some extent , Majumdar added.

Adani to start constructing Australia solar plants next year

My View:

Adani decision to develop solar plants in Australia is a welcome step for Australians. Adani's investment in coal mines were facing huge issues in Australia. However with increased investment in Australia will help to build long term relationship. Recently in Tamilandu, Adani constructed world's largest solar plant.








News:

Indian energy giant Adani Group today announced its new venture for construction of two major solar projects in Australia next year as part of its efforts to develop renewable energy projects in the country with a total capacity of 1,500 MW within the next five years.

"Adani today announced that it proposes to commence construction of two major solar projects in Australia next year, each with an output of 100-200 MW," a company statement issued here said.

Land agreements were in place for the projects in South Australia and Queensland and Adani has commenced the design and tendering phases for both projects.

Adani aims to develop renewable energy projects in Australia with a total capacity of 1,500 MW within the next five years, it noted.

The Australian solar projects will be in addition to Adani's 16.5 billion dollar investment in the planned Carmichael coal mine in Queensland's Galilee Basin, which has faced years of legal delays over environmental approvals, as well as rail and port facilities.

The company's head of Australian operations, Jeyakumar Janakaraj, said that these projects will offer a solid foundation to Adani's renewable energy business in Australia and will contribute to meeting the country's renewable energy target commitments.

"Coupled with the company's 3.3 billion dollars of investment to date across its mine, rail and port projects in Queensland, Adani's plans to pursue solar investment opportunities reflect the confidence the company has in the Australian market," Janakaraj said.

"This reflects both Adani's commitment as a diversified energy and infrastructure company in India and a leading solar generator in that market, and the company's plans to build a long-term future with Australia," he said.

Adani has constructed approximately 793 MW of solar plant capacity in India to date, including one of the world's largest solar plants in Tamil Nadu which has a capacity of 648 MW. Adani has a further 1,225 MW in construction or late development phase in India.

The environmental organistaion Mackay Conservation Group has welcomed Adani's decision to announce a 100 to 200 MW solar farm in Central Queensland.

"This is a sensible move that recognises the long term future of electricity production is in renewables," Mackay Conservation Group coordinator, Peter McCallum said.

"We also welcome the jobs that construction of a large scale solar power plant will bring without endangering jobs in Great Barrier Reef tourism. This is a win for everybody. Adani is fundamentally an energy company, not a miner, and their expertise is shifting rapidly towards becoming a clean energy producer in India and now in Australia," he said.

The company has faced a protracted battle to establish Australia's largest thermal coal mine.

Inox bags repeat order for 40 MW project in Gujarat

My View:

Inox Wind is continuously getting projects which are helping the books of company. RDPL is investing huge in renewable energy. The big firms in India should take lessons from such firm. 

As on 30 Sep 2016,the installed capacity of wind power plant is about 28 GW.

News:

Noida based Inox Wind Limited has won a repeat order for 40 MW wind power project in Gujarat.

Inox will execute the project on turnkey basis for Roha Dyechem Private Limited, a manufacturers of natural and synthetic colours, and the project is scheduled to be commissioned by March 2017.

The 40 MW project from Roha is part of the 350 MW of orders announced by lnox Wind on 3rd October 2016, according to an Inox release.

As part of the order Inox will install 20 units of it's 2 MW-113 meter rotor diameter turbine. The wind turbine manufacturer will provide end to end solutions from development and construction to commissioning and providing long term operations and maintenance services, the media release added.

"We are pleased to further build on the success of lnox's 2 MW platform in India." said Kailash Tarachandani, Chief Executive Officer of lnox Wind Limited in his statement.

RDPL has diversified its activities in Renewable Energy, as one of the emerging sectors of its business in the years to come. RDPL has already successfully invested in an aggregate of 52.5 MW of Solar Energy and 13.5 MW in Wind Energy and further plans to reach a combined milestone of 500 MW at various locations.

Wind turbines firm Senvion says big merger deal not in prospect

German wind turbines maker Senvion is not expecting to be part of any large-scale consolidation within the industry, preferring to focus on internal growth and possibly some further small acquisitions, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

Some 84 percent of Senvion's sales come from onshore wind turbines. It is also the world's third-largest maker of offshore wind turbines, behind Siemens and MHI Vestas, a joint venture between Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Denmark's Vestas.

Aiming to cut costs by increasing global scale, Senvion's local rival Nordex earlier this year took over the wind turbines business of Spain's Acciona, while Siemens and Gamesa are forging the industry's largest player.

"Big tie-ups need to pay off. At the moment, I don't see any product offering that would cause us to take such a step," Juergen Geissinger, Senvion's chief executive since last December, told Reuters at a wind power industry conference.

"Smaller acquisitions, like the one we recently did in India, are always on our mind though."

Senvion, which listed its shares in March, last month announced the purchase of the Indian wind power business Kenersys India Private Ltd, including a production facility of about 250 megawatts (MW), to take it into one of the industry's most promising markets.

"The Indian market has an annual volume of 4-5 gigawatts (GW). That makes it bigger than Germany," said Geissinger, who was chief executive of German car parts maker Schaeffler until 2013.

He said Senvion also hoped to benefit from an expected surge in orders in the United States in the fourth quarter, as wind farm developers seek to take advantage of key tax credits before they are phased out next year.

Senvion already has 1 GW of installed capacity in the United States but no local production. "Whether we will set up local production obviously depends on order backlog. That starts to make sense from about 1 GW."

Geissinger also reaffirmed Senvion's forecast for sales this year of 2.25-2.3 billion euros ($2.52-2.57 billion) and an adjusted margin on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of about 9.5 percent.


My View:
Senvion being one of the top company in wind sector. They are not planning now to be more agressive in acquisition. I think they are learning from big firm like sunedision which failed miserably. Wind segment in India is now at backfoot as the new story is now solar. However still in renewable energy in India,the wind power sttill holds first place.

CleanMax eyes 400 MW rooftop solar installed capacity in 2 years

Buoyed by the Centre's increased focus on renewable energy sector, solar solutions provider CleanMax Solar is looking to enhance its rooftop installed capacity by nearly eight-fold to about 400 MW in the next two years, a top company official said.

"With a current installed rooftop solar capacity of 55 MW across the major metros in the country, we are looking at increasing it to up to 400 MW in the next two years," company's Managing Director Kuldeep Singh told PTI here.

He said the government's vision of 40,000 MW of installed rooftop solar capacity by 2022 gives the company a huge opportunity to grow.

"Along with this, a number of private and government entities are also coming forward where we provide bespoke rooftop solar solutions," he said.

The company, which enjoys nearly 28 per cent share in the total rooftop solar market, has presence in six metros including Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Jaipur, Chennai and Hyderabad.

When asked whether the government's ambitious target of 40,000 MW was achievable, Jain said, "The target is massive and we should not go much into the numbers. But the positive side to it is that there is improved activity and acceptability in this space."

CleanMax caters to clients across sectors like automotive/auto components, food and beverages, government establishments, academic institutions, IT/ ITeS and other manufacturing industries.

Founded in 2011, the company develops solar projects on a turnkey basis, providing power on a per-kWh basis, under long-term power purchase agreements, typically at rates cheaper than grid tariffs.

It also installs solar power plants on a capex basis, and can supply off-site solar power through open access in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

My View:

The target by Clean Max is quite ambitious. The competition is immense in solar rooftop segment. The offtakers are still not coming in full fledged manner. The policies and technology is also coming up in positive manner which is facilitating solar industry.

Lets hope that in future more efficient technology can come which can help the industry to grow.

Essel Green Energy wins 270 MW solar project in Odisha

Essel Green Energy, an arm of Subhash Chandra's Essel Group, has won the bulk of the 270 MW tender floated by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for projects in Odisha.

SECI officials confirmed that Essel has been awarded 240 MW, while Jyoti Infrastructure has got 10 MW and IBC Solar Ventures India 20 MW.

As in several solar auctions this year, SECI set a reserve price of Rs 4.43 per unit, which the successful bidders offered without going lower. The winners were decided on the basis of the lowest viability gap funding (VGF) sought from the renewable energy ministry. Jyoti Infrastructure asked for VGF of Rs 49.15 lakh per MW, IBC sought Rs 49.25 lakh and Essel Green Rs 49.5 lakh per MW.

The Odisha project is the biggest that Essel Green Energy has won and is larger than its entire current solar portfolio of 225 MW across 12 projects, six of which have been commissioned.

It has one small hydro project and is building 17 others for a total of 82 MW. Six wind farms are under construction, while sites for another five have been identified for a total capacity of 500 MW.

This is the first major solar auction in Odisha. An auction of 20 MW was held in 2014 under the first phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. With thermal power priced low, the state has been a latecomer to renewable energy since the tariffs are not competitive. It is, however, identifying land to set up a solar park with a capacity of about 1,000 MW across 5,000 acres, with a total investment of Rs 6,500 crore. The winners of the latest auction will have to locate and develop their own land.



My View:

Orissa being coal state, solar power become a difficult task to bring. However it came and Essel green energy bagged 270 MW; which is highest for the company. The tariff is quite higher than current price of coal based power plant in Orissa. This decision is quite a positive state for solar mission.

Rajasthan is most attractive solar project destination in India, proves NTPC auction

Rajasthan confirmed its position as the most attractive solar project destination in the country with the latest NTPC auction in the desert state, which saw the winning bids falling to Rs 4.35-4.36 per kwH.


Of the 130 MW on offer, 50 MW was won by Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure Capital and 60 MW by Mahindra Susten, both offering to sell electricity produced from their projects at an identical Rs 4.35 per kwH. The remaining 20 MW was won by Prayatna Developers of the Adani Group at Rs 4.36 per kwH.

In these reverse auctions, the developer that offers to sell electricity at the lowest price wins. The latest wining prices are just a shade over the lowest ever offered by a solar project developer in India — that, too, in Rajasthan. Fortum Finnsurya bid Rs 4.34 per kwH to win a 70 MW project at the last NTPC auction in Rajasthan in January.

In that auction, however, land for the project was ensured at the Bhadla Solar Park in Jodhpur district, which has the highest solar radiation in the country. In the current case, no land is being provided. Developers will have to locate and develop the land themselves — a condition which may have contributed to keeping the tariff marginally higher.

Solar tariffs fell steeply in 2015, but appeared to have bottomed out after the Bhadla Solar Park auction. In at least five auctions since then — in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh — the winning tariff remained stuck at the reserve price of Rs 4.43 per kwH (barring one bid of Rs 4.41 per kwH in Maharashtra). In other auctions, the price was higher.

Fears were expressed that aggressive bidding had pushed solar tariffs too low and a correction was likely.


Expert's View:


It is obvious that Rajasthan has been one of the most attractive for solar project due to its high solar irradiance and barren lands. With such tariff of solar power, I can assume that within 5 years down the line solar power would become most cheapest power source in India. However there are some concerns regarding investmnet but it will be overcome with proper policies.

Misaligned mirrors cause fire at world's largest solar power plant in California

A small fire shut down a generating tower Thursday at the world's largest solar power plant, leaving the sprawling facility on the California-Nevada border operating at only a third of its capacity, authorities said.

Firefighters had to climb some 300 feet up a boiler tower at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California after fire was reported on an upper level around 9:30 a.m., fire officials said.

The plant works by using mirrors to focus sunlight on boilers at the top of three 459-foot towers, creating steam that drive turbines to produce electricity.

But some misaligned mirrors instead focused sunbeams on a different level of Unit 3, causing electrical cables to catch fire, San Bernardino County, California fire Capt. Mike McClintock said.

David Knox, spokesman for plant operator NRG Energy, said it was too early to comment on the cause, which was under investigation.

The fire was located about two-thirds of the way up the tower, said Jeff Buchanan of Nevada's Clark County Fire Department, which also responded to the blaze.

Plant personnel had the fire out by the time firefighters reached the spot, and it was officially declared out in about 20 minutes.

Photos showed melted and scorched steam ducts and water pipes.

Knox said the tower was offline while crews assess the damage. He could not immediately say when it would restart.

The plant can produce enough power for 140,000 California homes, but a second tower is shut down for maintenance, leaving only one running.

It was not immediately clear what impact that would have on California's electricity supply.

It was the first fire at the plant, which opened two years ago on federal land in the Mojave Desert about 45 miles southwest of Las Vegas.

The $2.2 billion complex has nearly 350,000 computer controlled mirrors _ each roughly the size of a garage door _ that sprawl over roughly five square miles of desert.


Experts View:

It shows that the solar plant also requires proper operation and maintenance to work efficiently. However solar concentrated solar PV requires more maintenance as it includes boiler than solar PV. The worlds largest solar plant of 750 MW in India is under process which will take over California plant after some months/years.

Metro to generate solar power from station rooftops

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has made plans to generate 20MW of solar energy from the rooftops of its stations and office buildings by the end of 2017. While this is a fraction of the total consumption of 148MW, it is expected to take care of several power requirements at stations.

DMRC will also be able to keep a tab in real time on how much solar energy its rooftop projects are generating, what is the consumption and how much excess solar energy is being sent to the grid through a web portal. It can also track the changes in generation due to weather conditions.

The web portal is one of DMRC's plans to expand its renewable energy generation over the next few years. Though the portal is for internal use now, it will be made public later, officials said.

Officials at the national conference on 'Green Metro Systems' at Metro Bhawan on Friday said the stations are currently generating about 7MW. "About 30-40% of our total operational expenditure is on power. There is enough reason for us to move to renewable energy. DMRC consumes about 3% of Delhi's total energy," said an official.

The on-ground stations can meet most of their energy needs with solar, but the underground stations need about 1.2MW each for lighting and other needs.

Mangu Singh, DMRC's managing director, stressed on the importance of adopting green technologies. "We are continuously striving to make Delhi Metro more energy efficient. Its power consumption can be reduced further with better engineering practices, sleek design, recycle and reuse," he said.


Experts Comment:

This is good initiative by DMRC.As in article it is discussed that 3% of electricity consumption is by DMRC.

By becoming self sufficient,it will surely help the capital of India. Also, DMRC has made long term PPA with upcoming India's largest solar plant in Madhyapradesh.

It will also help to achieve Solar target of 100 GW.

Beas has world's largest 11.5-MW rooftop solar plant

Touted to be the largest of its kind in the world, an 11.5-MW rooftop solar power plant was inaugurated by Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal at Dera Baba Jaimal Singh (the Radha Soami sect headquarters at Beas), 45km from Amritsar, on Tuesday.

The CM dedicated the the state-of-the-art project installed by Radha Soami Satsang Beas Educational and Environmental Society (RSSBEES), in technical collaboration with Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA), to the nation. He said it would go a long way to motivate other states to replicate such projects for producing clean and green energy.

Highlighting the significance of the Rs 139-crore project, Punjab renewable energy minister Bikram Singh Majithia said the plant has enormous environmental benefits and would be instrumental in bringing down 4 lakh tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the next 25 years, which was equivalent to planting nearly 2 lakh trees. He said the project would generate energy sufficient to power approximately 8,000 homes.

"Besides," he said, "this project would also go a long way in creating awareness about eco-friendly solar power among the general public, as one crore devotees visit the Dera Baba Jaimal Singh annually."

PEDA director Balour Singh informed that 11.5 MW solar plant is installed on nearly 42 acres of rooftop of open shed meant for 'sangat' (followers). He informed that it took nearly six months to make the world record. "There are other several 5MW rooftop plants in various countries, including USA and China but this is the largest one that produces 11.5MW electricity," he said.

He informed that there were other solar plants in the Dera complex producing 8 MW electricity on seven roofs, thus making a total installed capacity of 19.5MW spread over 82 acres.


Experts Comment:


Solar rooftop can help to achieve ambitious target of 100 GW by 2022.
There is vast potential of solar power in India,which can be harnessed easily by using more and more of solar rooftop.
Government should make it compulsory for schools,hospitals and other commercial buildings to install solar rooftop such that it will help the sector to grow at much faster pace.

Renewable Energy Certificate -Decoding

Renewable Power is the energy source which is one of the mostly researched by many countries. In India the Installed capacity of renewable energy is still small in number. The main cause is cost,efficiency and reliability. If demand is not there than obviouslly supply will be less. Suppose if you are getting same chocklate at different rates,then consumer will take the less price chocklate. Similarly in power if you are getting electricity from thermal power at cheaper rate than renewable,the consumer will choose themal.

Thus the concept of REC ( Renewable Energy Certificate) evolved. To protect the environment from dangerous pollutants evolving from themal sources there is a need of renewable power.The government decided to promote renewable sources through various routes. REC was one of them.
REC means a certicate which proves that 1 MW of electricity is generated via renewable source. This certificate is traded via power exchanges (i.e. PXIL and IEX).

The buyers for REC can be Discoms,Open access consumer,captive power plants. Every states have targeted the purchase of renewable energy cerificate.The target is set up by respective SERC's. With REC there can be added advantage to states where there are less resources of renewable energy sources.

But if you will see the present scenario of REC,the situation is in bleak state. There are lakhs of suppliers of REC but the buyers are in thousands. The main problem exists in policies of the respective states. Discoms situation is not in a good situation where they are not able to pay for cheap power. Thus this creates a mismatch supply demand in REC market.

REC is of two types: Non Solar and Solar REC. Non solar include small hydro,biomass,W2E,etc.Solar REC include power generated by solar power. Non solar REC price is low as compare with solar REC.Thus the non solar REC is getting better demand than Solar REC.

Now its time to think that what we can do for REC which can promote renewable source. 

I got an idea to promote REC as consider as a CSR activity. There are many companies in India where there is inclusion of CSR activity.Thus we can propose to companies to buy REC as their CSR activity. It will be Win-Win situation for all. The sellers will get their buyers and companies can easily perform CSR activity without any hurdles.

There can be many ideas to promote REC in India.Please share your ideas in comment section below.

Is it viable to go for 100 GW solar?

Solar!Solar!Solar! This is the latest fashion statement by energy players. Govt. of India announced 100 GW of solar by 2022.This is very ambitious target which will take mammoth effort to acheive.
However with the introduction of new players (especially foreign players) are agressively taking part in solar segment.But somewhere if you will see the problems like transmission,financial health of DISCOM,efficiency of SPP and many more;you will think its not viable to go for 100 GW by looking at present situation.

Lets discuss the problems one by one:

1- Lack of transmission facilities: 
Suppose for instance we are in 2022 and India acheived their target of 100 GW solar.Now we have solar parks,large MW solar power plant in the areas which are far away from the loads.Now to transmit power which is generated by solar is difficult. If solar power is transmitted with conventional grid,then grid frequency problems will occur.India is a country with not much investment in transmisssion segment thus it will create mismatch as everybody will not be able to take advantage of solar. Govt.is thinking about GREEN CORRIDOR which will be specifically for renewable energy.The transmission problem can be solved if we have huge investment and proper policies. There is a need of more private participation in transmission sector.

2- Finanacial health of DISCOM:
Discom in India are loosing thousands of crore annually.Discom are in such a situation where they will not afford any new PPA. So,now you can imagine who will buy this solar power if Discom will not take. One good example which come to my mind is presently the avg.cost of power in exchange is about 2.4,then also many discom prefer not to buy power. Govt.of India should think about it as till 2022 the generation capacity will increase including renewable generation,

3- Efficiency of SPP:
Solar energy has lots of advantage but it has many constraints also. If we compare with thermal then efficiency of spp is low.Solar energy is not always available, their CUF is also quite low. Recent news published by ET where the India avg plf came below 60 percentage. So you can think when this 100 GW solar will be installed then the efficiency will also get down.

But don't think like I am negative about solar,but 100 GW is not viable for me in near future. If you have any queries/suggestion you can comment below.

Renewable Energy Certificate

What is REC?

The Electricity Act, 2003, the policies framed under the Act, as also the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) provide for a roadmap for increasing the share of renewable in the total generation capacity in the country.

However, Renewable Energy (RE) sources are not evenly spread across different parts of the country. On the one hand there are States (like Delhi) where the potential of RE sources is not that significant. This inhibits SERCs in these States from specifying higher Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO).

On the other hand there are States (like Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu) where there is very high potential of RE sources. In such States there are avenues for harnessing the RE potential beyond the RPO level fixed by the SERCs. However, the high cost of generation from RE sources discourages the local distribution licensees from purchasing RE generation beyond the RPO level mandated by the State Commission.

It is in this context that the concept of Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) assumes significance. This concept seeks to address the mismatch between availability of RE sources and the requirement of the obligated entities to meet their RPO. It is also expected to encourage the RE capacity addition in the States where there is potential for RE generation as the REC framework seeks to create a national level market for such generators to recover their cost.

Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has notified Regulation on Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) in fulfillment of its mandate to promote renewable sources of energy and development of market in electricity. The framework of REC is expected to give push to RE capacity addition in the country.

Salient Features of the REC Framework

1-There will be a central level agency to be designated by the Central Commission for registration of RE generators participating in the scheme.

2-The RE generators will have two options - either to sell the renewable energy at preferential tariff fixed by the concerned Electricity Regulatory Commission or to sell the electricity generation and environmental attributes associated with RE generation separately.

3-On choosing the second option, the environmental attributes can be exchanged in the form of REC. Price of electricity component would be equivalent to weighted average power purchase cost of the distribution company including short-term power purchase but excluding renewable power purchase cost.

4-The Central Agency will issue the REC to RE generators.

5-The value of REC will be equivalent to 1 MWh of electricity injected into the grid from renewable energy sources.

6-The REC will be exchanged only in the Power Exchanges approved by CERC within the band of a floor price and a forbearance (ceiling) price to be determined by CERC from time to time.

7-The distribution companies, Open Access consumer, Captive Power Plants (CPPs) will have option of purchasing the REC to meet their Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPO). Pertinently, RPO is the obligation mandated by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) under the Act, to purchase minimum level of renewable energy out of the total consumption in the area of a distribution licensee.

8-There will also be compliance auditors to ensure compliance of the requirement of the REC by the participants of the scheme.

Welspun to set up 100 MW solar plant in Tamil Nadu

Welspun Renewables has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) for setting up a 100-MW solar project in the State.

Welspun’s 100 MW is among the 146-MW worth of PPAs the Government has signed so far under the existing solar power purchase programme.

Under the scheme, the developers who set up projects before September will sell their power to Tangedco at a rate of ₹7.01 a kWhr.

Welspun wanted to do more — a figure of 300 MW has been indicated.

But like many other solar power developers (such as American company SunEdison), Welspun fears it may not be able to complete more projects within the September deadline.

Deadline extension soughtSeveral developers have asked for an extension of the deadline, on which the state Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) will have to take a call.

Many in the solar industry are of the view that TNERC might extend the deadline till March 2016.

TNERC gave its mandatory approval to the draft PPA only in late January.

Among the other companies who have signed PPAs are the jeweller GRT (15 MW) and the Andhra-based SSNR Power (10 MW).

Meanwhile, there are reports that the Adani Group has been examining the possibility of setting up a large, perhaps 1,000 MW, solar plant in the State.

Industry observers believe the group might be wanting to make an announcement in this regard at the Global Investors’ Meet to be held on May 23-24.

Analysis:

The TNERC should extend the deadline so that investors will be interested to invest more.As welspun wanted to install more 200 MW.The policies should be more transparent to promote renewable technologies.The commissioning of plant on time is the main factor while signing PPA. Also Adani is also planning to set up large MW solar power plant.