REC Sales Drop Again, Down 65% in April to 3.68 Lakh

Sales of renewable energy certificates dropped by about 65 percent to 3.68 lakh units in April as compared to 10.62 lakh in the same month last year.

Sales of renewable energy certificates dropped by about 65 percent to 3.68 lakh units in April as compared to 10.62 lakh in the same month last year due to lower supply, according to data released by the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and Power Exchange of India (PXIL).

The two power bourses in the country engaged in trading of renewable energy certificates (RECs) and electricity revealed the following. IEX saw total trade of 2.24 lakh in April, less than a third of what it managed in the same month last year with the sale of 7.81 lakh certificates. And, PXIL recorded sale of 1.44 lakh RECs in the month compared to 2.81 lakh a year ago.

As many as 1,61,949 units of non-solar RECs were traded at IEX, with sell bids for 3,51,915 units and buy bids for 6,97,502 units. Besides, 62,853 units of solar RECs were traded, with sell bids for 1,42,148 units and buy bids for 3,61,606 units in April. Both non-solar and solar RECs continued to suffer from buy bids again surpassing sell bids due to the lacking inventory in the country.

Similarly at PXIL, for solar RECs, there were sell bids for 78,637 units while buy offers were for 1,97,645 units. In the non-solar REC category, the sell bids were for 1,32,223 units while buy bids were for 3,40,999 units in April.

Under the renewable purchase obligation (RPO), bulk purchasers like discoms, open access consumers and capacitive users are required to buy a certain proportion of RECs. They can buy RECs from renewable energy producers to meet the RPO norms.

The REC mechanism is a market-based instrument to promote renewable sources of energy and development of the market in electricity. It provides an alternative voluntary route to a generator to sell his electricity from renewable sources just like conventional electricity and offer the green attribute (RECs) separately to obligated entities to fulfill their RPO. 

Earlier we reported that Sales of renewable energy certificates declined over 22 percent to 1.25 crore units this fiscal on IEX and PXIL as compared to 1.61 crore in 2017-18, mainly due to lower inventory (supply). In March, sales of RECs or green certificates declined by over 51 percent to 11.78 lakh from 24.26 lakh in the same month last year.