Power Minister R.K. Singh Updates Parliament On Progress With India’s Energy Transition

The Union Minister of Renewable Energy & Power R.K. Singh recently made a slew of announcements in the Rajya Sabha, shining the light on the progress made in renewable energy in the country. Here is a look at some important advancements

Union Minister of Renewable Energy & Power R.K. Singh made a slew of announcements in the Rajya Sabha yesterday, shining the light on the progress made in renewable energy in the country. Here is a look at some important of the relevant news related to renewables.

Renewable Energy Installed

As on 31.01.2023, the cumulative installed capacity of renewable energy stood at 168.39 GW. Of this, 63.89 GW can be attributed to solar power, 46.85 GW to large hydro, 41.98 GW to wind power. The rest is accounted by bio power (10.73 GW) and small hydro power (4.94 GW).

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Another 80.15 GW of capacity is being implemented while an additional 34.83 GW is to be tendered.

Several noteworthy initiatives that he made a mention of in this direction included the following

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 100 percent under the automatic route

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In December 2022, the MNRE Minister had informed that the inflow of FDI from April 2000 to September 2022 stood at over USD 13 billion.

Waiver of Inter State Transmission System (ISTS) charges

A waiver has been introduced for inter-state sale of solar and wind power for projects to be commissioned by 30^th June 2025. The waiver aspires to create a level-playing field, encouraging the smaller players in the industry. 

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Schemes

Singh spoke about schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM), Solar Rooftop Phase II, 12000 MW CPSU Scheme Phase II, etc.  PM-KUSUM has set sights on ensuring energy security for farmers in India, and looks at augmenting the share of installed capacity of electric power from non-fossil-fuel sources to 40% by 2030.

New transmission lines

The minister said that new transmision lines have been laid and now there is a focus on the creation of a new sub-station capacity under the Green Energy Corridor Scheme for evacuation of renewable power.

The Government has set sights on achieving 10,750 cms intra-state transmission lines along with 27,500 MVA sub-stations.

National Green Hydrogen Mission

The MNRE has been eager to give an impetus to green hydrogen. It may be recalled that The Government of India approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission in January 2023 with the initial outlay of Rs.19,744 crore, including an outlay of Rs.17,490 crore for the SIGHT (Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition) programme, Rs.1,466 crore for pilot projects, Rs.400 crore for R&D, and Rs. 388 crore towards other Mission components.

Other initiatives that he referred to were the introduction of standard bidding guidelines for tariff based competitive bidding process for procurement of power from grid connected solar PV and wind projects, notification of promoting renewable energy through Green Energy Open Access Rules 2022, notification of “The Electricity (Late Payment Surcharge and related matters) Rules (LPS rules: “provides for regulation of access to power in case of non-payment of dues, one month after the due date of payment or two and half months after the presentation of bill by the generating company”.), launch of Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM) to facilitate sale of renewable energy power through exchanges.

Rooftop Solar

As is known, the uptake of rooftop solar has been rather slow in the country.

Close to 3377 MW of capacity has been assigned to state implementing agencies. An amount of Rs. 2917.59 Cr has been released to them under Rooftop Solar Programme Ph-II Programme. The minister revealed that 4.3 lakh beneficiaries have benefited under the programme.

There has been no progress with regards to capacity allocation, capacity installed and funds released under the Rooftop Solar Programme Phase-II in Andaman & Nicobar, some north-eastern states, Ladakh, Lakshadweep. It is negligent for Odisha. Gujarat (₹ 2,239.32) and Kerala (₹ 133.93) have done well on this front with respect to funds allocated under the scheme.

Solarization of Pumps

The minister said that 89.45 MW capacity has been installed under Component-A and around 2.09 lakh pumps have been reported solarized under Component-B and Component-C – of PM-KUSUM.

Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan are some states that have reported maximum demand from solarization under the scheme The cumulative demand stands at over 80 lac. As far as implementation is concerned, the total sanctioned Feeder Level Solar (FLS) stands at 2400279. Only Kerala, Rajasthan and West Bengal have reported installation.

Storage

The installed capacity of Pumped Storage Projects (PSPs) in the country is 4745.6 MW and another 1500 MW capacity is under active construction.

Several initiatives as mentioned by the minister on this front included cnstruction of intra-state and inter-state transmission systems for evacuation of renewable power, setting up of Renewable Energy Management Centers (REMCs) for accurate forecasting of renewable power and for assisting grid operators to manage variability and intermittency of renewable power, Innovative products like solar-wind hybrid projects, RE projects with energy storage systems and supply of RE power balanced with power from non-RE sources started to reduce intermittency.

Implementation of Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM) and Green Day Ahead Market (GDAM) for sale of renewable power was also referred to.

Further, to make round-the-clock power (RTC) a reality, It looks to install battery energy storage capacity of 51.5 GW by the end of the decade.

“Under tarif based Global Competitive Bidding, issued by the Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd., for setting up of 500 MW/1000 MWh standalone BESS pilot project, the lowest bid discovered is Rs 10,83,500 /- per MW/Month. To reduce the Levelized Cost of Storage, a viability gap funding scheme for 4,000 MWh of BESS has been announced in the Budget for the year 2023-24.”

Bilateral agreements

In 2022, the government entered into several MoUs on energy with various countries.

With Australia, a Letter of Intent (LoI) on New and Renewable Energy Technology cooperation was signed. An MoU was signed in the field of Renewable Energy was signed between MNRE and Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of the Republic of Finland. A JDI on the Indo-German Green Hydrogen Task force was signed between the MNRE Government of India and the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) of the Federal Republic of Germany.  Another JDI was with Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Towards Green Hydrogen development and Investments in India and the UAE, the two countries also signed a pact last year.

Electrification of villages

Schemes such as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (SAUBHAGYA) have been launched to provide power supply at all times to all villages and households.

Since the launch of SAUBHAGYA, a total of 2.817 crore households have been launched up to 31.03.2021. Under DDUGJY, 4.34 lakh households have been electrified until 31.03.2022. AA total of 2.86 crore households have been electrified. The Scheme was closed on 31.03.2022.

Even though a host of schemes, policies and efforts to augment installation of renewable energy have taken off, the goal of 500 GW is a gigantic one that will require industry players and the stakeholders to further step up to make it a reality. The states that have been lagging behind will have to pick up pace too to contribute to this growth in installation.