MNRE Nudges CPSEs to Give Priority to Renewable Energy Investments

CPSEs have been asked by MNRE to prioritise renewable energy projects in their investment plans, as part of larger efforts to reduce carbon emission.

All central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) have been asked by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to prioritise renewable energy projects in their investment plans, as part of larger efforts to reduce carbon emission. The ministry had written a letter to all CPSEs, the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) and the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA).

“The Ministry requests that the CPSEs may be directed to accord priority to renewable energy (RE) projects in their investment plans.

“They can either set up renewable energy projects on their own or participate in tariff-based bids for all such projects floated by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) or set up manufacturing units for manufacturing solar PV cells/modules,” the letter said.

This step will not only help CPSEs cut cost but also contribute to reducing their carbon footprint, besides boosting the confidence of players in the sector, it added.

The government is aiming to install 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 and this would entail the addition of nearly 30 GW of renewable energy projects per year, the letter said.

The ministry has also issued CPSU Scheme Phase-II (Government Producer Scheme) for setting up 12,000 MW of grid-connected solar PV power projects which is not only aimed at achieving the target but also to enhance domestic solar PV manufacturing capacity, it noted.

Recently, SECI had successfully awarded projects worth 922.4 MW under its tender seeking solar power developers for setting up of 2 GW solar power projects (Tranche-1) under the CPSU-II scheme.

In total, 922.4 MW capacity was awarded to six bidders through the reverse auction process. State-owned NHDC Ltd. was awarded 25 MW capacity after quoted the lowest VGF amount of Rs 55 lakh/MW. The biggest winner in the project was NTPC ltd. which walked away from the auction with 769.4 MW capacity after having quoted the highest VGF of Rs 70 lakh/MW for setting up of 922.4 MW projects, which was also the maximum limit set by SECI.

The ministry further said since renewable power, especially solar and wind, has become cheaper, the DPE may include “usage of renewable power by CPSEs” as one of the MoU parameters.