IEX April’22 update: solar prices at Rs 7.79/unit in GTAM market

In the first month of the new fiscal year 2023, the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) achieved 7574 MU volume across all the market segments comprising 6989 MU in the conventional power market, 336 MU in the green power market, and 249 MU (2.49 lac Certificates) in the REC Market, according to a new press release.

The volumes declined 1.7% vis-à-vis April’21 considering the power supply related constraints which also led to high clearing prices across all the market segments.

According to the power demand data published by the National Load Dispatch Center, during April’22 the energy consumption at 133 BU saw 11% YoY growth while the national peak demand at 207.11 GW saw 13% YoY growth.

On March 21, 2022, the CERC had notified Fifth Amendment in the Open Access In Inter-State Transmission Regulations and subsequently it approved the Procedure regarding the National Open Access Registry (NOAR) – a centralized automated tech based platform for facilitating open access, to be hosted, operated and implemented by POSOCO with effect from Sunday May 1, 2022.

In a leadership move, IEX successfully integrated its platform with NOAR on Sunday 1 May’22 for all the market segments – DAM, G-DAM, RTM, TAM, and G-TAM. Going forward, registration in NOAR will be a prerequisite for both collective as well as the bilateral transactions in the short-term power market. The NOAR will facilitate seamless communication, process simplification, greater transparency, elimination of scope of human intervention, thereby unleashing greater efficiency and facilitating the power market development.

ELECTRICITY MARKET: DAY- AHEAD, TERM- AHEAD & REAL-TIME MARKET
The power supply side constraints reflected across the market segments on the Exchange. In the day-ahead and real-time market combined, the total buy bids at 21,996 MU almost at 3X of the sell bids at 7010 MU while the cleared volume was at 5818 MU. This situation also led to increase in the price of power at IEX, both in the conventional as well as the green markets.
The Day-Ahead Market volume was at 4114 MU during the month. The average monthly market clearing price at Rs 10.06 per unit saw 172% YoY increase.

The Real-Time Electricity Market achieved 1704 MU volume achieving a significant 16% YoY growth with the average monthly price at Rs 9.55 per unit. The highest single-day volume of 98.97 MU was achieved on April 30. During the month, 576 participants transacted in the Exchange’s RTM market.

The Term-Ahead Market comprising intra-day, contingency, daily & weekly contracts traded 1171 MU registering 236% YoY growth.

GREEN MARKET: DAY-AHEAD & TERM-AHEAD MARKET
IEX Green Market comprising the Day-Ahead and Term-Ahead market segments achieved 335 MU volume during April’22.

The Green Day-Ahead Market achieved 215 MU volume with the weighted average price of Rs 9.29 per unit and saw participation from 175 participants during the month.

The Green Term-Ahead Market achieved 121 MU volume and recorded participation from 46 market participants. The average monthly price for Solar was Rs 7.79 per unit while the average monthly price for non-solar was Rs 11.41 per unit.

The key distribution utilities from States including Delhi, Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh as well as several industrial consumers participated in the Exchange’s Green Market during the month.

RENEWABLE ENERGY CERTIFICATE MARKET
A total of 2.49 lacs RECs were cleared in the trading session at IEX held on Wednesday, 27 April’22. The volume comprised 1.71 lacs Non-Solar RECs with a clearing price of Rs 1,000 per REC and 0.77 lacs Solar REC with a clearing price of Rs. 2200 per REC. The next REC trading session at the Exchange is scheduled for Wednesday 25 May 2022.