Maharashtra Order 5 Entities to Comply with the State’s RPO

MERC has ordered five entities which include Indian Railways, Tata Power and BEST to comply with its Solar and Non-Solar RPO for the present and previous financial years.

The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has formally asked five entities operating in the state to comply with its solar and non-solar renewable purchase obligation (RPO) for the fiscal years 2017-18 and 2018-19.

The five entities that have been summoned are the Indian Railways, Tata Power Co. Ltd. (Distribution), Brihan Mumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST), Gigaplex Estate Pvt. Ltd. (GEPL), and Mindspace Business Parks Pvt. Ltd.

While examining the petitions, the commission noted standalone and cumulative shortfalls for both solar and non-solar RPO for each of the five involved entities.

It found that the Indian Railways has a standalone shortfall of 48.393 Million Units (MU) for solar RPO in FY 2017-18 and a cumulative shortfall of 74.48 MU. The standalone deficit for its non-solar RPO stood at 254.06 MU for FY 2017-18 with a cumulative shortfall of 537.80 MU. The standalone shortage for its mini/micro hydro RPO was 0.508 MU for FY 2017-18, with a cumulative deficit of 1.08 MU.

While, BEST has a standalone shortfall for solar RPO of 65.571 MU for FY 2017-18 and a cumulative shortfall of 66.887 MU, besides a cumulative shortfall of non-solar RPO target of 4.628 MU.

Meanwhile, Tata Power Co. Ltd. (Distribution) has a standalone shortfall for solar RPO of 20.654 MU for FY 2017-18 and a cumulative deficit of 15.963 MU. The commission also found shortfalls in both GEPL and Mindspace’s RPO compliance.

The state commission has ordered these entities to meet their cumulative shortfalls until FY 2017-18 in FY 2018-19. The commission will review the same during RPO verification proceedings for FY 2018-19.

In a previous order issued in March, the state commission ordered Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) to comply with its solar RPO requirement for FY 2017-18 by March 2020 to fulfil the solar RPO requirement of the year.

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