IEX: 90% YoY growth in electricity market; 7707 MU trade in April 2021

Great news has come from the electricity market at the Indian Energy Exchange as it began the new fiscal year 2022 with 7707 MU volume in April 2021, achieving a 90.2 per cent year-on-year growth, much like its notable performance in the last fiscal year.

Considering the power demand data published by the National Load Dispatch Centre, the national peak power demand was at 183 GW while the peak demand and power consumption registered close to 40 per cent YoY growth on a weak base. The consistent performance of the Exchange owes to many factors- such increase in electricity consumption- and its positioning as the most preferred destination for power procurement for both the distribution utilities as well as the industrial consumers, is a result of its robust value proposition in terms of the most competitive prices, flexible, and efficient procurement.

The day-ahead market traded 5,699 MU volume in April, achieving a significant 54 per cent YoY growth. The average monthly price at Rs 3.70 per unit witnessed 53 per cent increase over Rs 2.42 in the corresponding period in 2020. The price increased mainly due to higher demand and sharp slump in electricity prices in April 2020 due to a stringent nationwide lockdown. The day-ahead market saw ample availability of power with sell-bids at 1.48X of the cleared volume during the month. The term-ahead market comprising intra-day, contingency, daily & weekly contracts traded 349 MU during the month.

The real-time market saw highest ever monthly volume of 1473 MU in April’21 achieving 4.2 per cent MoM growth. It also recorded the highest single day volume of 68.36 MU on April 3. With sell-side bids at 1.8X of cleared volume, the market continued to have ample availability of power. The growing volume in the real-time electricity market shows its acceptance by distribution utilities and industrial consumers as the go-to platform for addressing the real-time electricity demand-supply balance in the most competitive and efficient manner with the delivery of power at just 1-hour notice. The green term-ahead market traded 186 MU volume during April’21 comprising 78 MU in the solar segment and 108 MU in the non-solar segment, achieving a significant 262 per cent MoM growth.

Thirty-four participants participated during the month with distribution utilities from Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Telangana among others as the key participants. The market has been enabling distribution utilities, industrial consumers, and green generators to trade in renewable energy in the most competitive and viable way. During the month, the Cross Border Electricity Trade (CBET) was begun by IEX on its platform, highlighting a key step forward in its endeavour to build an integrated South Asian regional power market. A unique initiative, the new market segment allows the Exchange market to expand its reach beyond India to the South Asia region, thus supporting the growth of energy ecosystem in the region in an efficient and sustainable manner.

While Nepal emerged as the first country to trade in the day-ahead market on the Exchange on April 17 April, other South Asian countries like Bhutan and Bangladesh are expected to join the platform soon, and the market is likely to grow at a fast pace in the coming months.