JERC Orders two UTs to Comply With RPO Targets

JERC has asked DNHPDCL and the electricity department of Daman & Diu to comply with the RPO targets set by the commission.

The Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) has been conducting suo-moto hearings in the matter of compliance of the Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPO) by the State of Goa and Union Territories. After its latest hearing, the commission has asked the Dadra and Nagar Haveli Power Distribution Corporation Limited (DNHPDCL) and the electricity department of Daman & Diu to comply with the RPO targets set by the commission.

The commission has informed that it has observed a dismal performance by both DNHPDCL and the Daman and Diu UT regarding the compliance of the commissions RPO regulation in the financial year. In light of this, the commission has ordered both the UTs to make good the total shortfall up to FY 2018-19 within the stipulated period along with the targets for FY 2019-20 and ensure 100 percent compliance of RPO targets.

The commission has directed DNHPDCL to purchase the required number of RECs to achieve the target fixed by the commission. Furthermore, it has directed the electricity department of Daman and Diu to comply with its earlier order and send an action plan for full RPO compliance within a week.

According to the JERC Regulations, DNHPDCL was directed to purchase 11.5 percent energy from renewable energy sources out of the total consumption in the financial year 2019-2020, amounting to 724.14 MU for the fiscal.

In response to this, the chief engineer of DNHPDCL had filed an affidavit regarding RPO compliance up to November 30, 2019, for the financial year 2019-2020. He had submitted that the availability of non-solar RECs is hardly 50 percent against the market demand, while the settlement ratio is 43 percent. Stating that DNHPDCL had purchased 261.69 MUs non-solar RECs as against the non-solar backlog of 695.72 MUs.

The Commission has observed that the total backlog for the financial year 2018-2019 stood at 779.64 MUs, and the total current RPO target for the financial year 2019-2020 stood at 724.14 MUs. So, the overall target to be achieved by DNHPDCL by March 2020 is 1,503.82 MUs.To achieve the target, the Discom said it would go for aggressive bidding for the procurement of solar and non-solar RECs by increasing the number of certificates and quoting a higher price to meet the target.

JERC also expressed that it is not satisfied with the electricity department of Daman & Diu as it had failed to exhibit any seriousness about meeting the shortfall in its RPO target. The Commission has directed the electricity department to bid sensibly in the remaining months of the financial year 2019-2020 and try to meet the RPO target as fixed by the Commission in its earlier order.

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