Govt to release draft guidelines on separate green tariff for discoms in 15 days: RK Singh

• If an industry wants green energy, the discom will be able to supply at a separate tariff, said Singh
• Singh said that by December 2022, India will have 27 GW of fresh solar module manufacturing capacity

New Delhi: Within 15 days, the government will release draft guidelines for allowing power distribution companies (discoms) to sell renewable energy (RE) to large consumers at a separate green tariff, said Power Minister RK Singh on Tuesday. Addressing the media on 'India's role as global champion for the Energy Transition theme of the UN High Level Dialogue on Energy 2021,' Singh said, "We have a scheme under examination and in 15 days' time we will come out with this. If an industry wants green energy, the discom will be able to supply at a separate tariff which will be the weighted average of cost of procurement of green energy. It will be lower than cost of other energies."

"If someone in the industry wants only green energy due to social consciousness, only path is to tie up with a developer. We are now enabling dicsoms, they can buy green energy, aggregate and supply to willing industries at green tariff," he stated. The minister said that the draft Green Tariff and Open Access rules could have different provisions focussed on removing limitations on simple commerce of renewable power between patrons and consumers. "If an industry ties up with renewable developer, then the Open Access application has to be approved by the regulator within 15 days," said Singh.

'Renewable purchase obligations (RPO) to be extended until 2030'

While stating that the government plans to bring green Hydrogen within the ambit of renewable purchase obligations (RPO), the Power Minister told the media that the government is planning to extend RPO to 2030 and will bring out a notification in this regard within 30 days. "We have RPO valid upto 2022 and most states have not come up to that. We are pressurising states to achieve their RPO, and we will be extending the RPO beyond 2022 upto 2030 by when we will have 450 Gw of renewable energy generation. Both the Union power and renewable energy ministries are working towards it and we will be coming up with notification in 30 days," said Singh.

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Centre to roll out pumped hydro storage policy soon: RK Singh

The minister also said that the government will soon announce a pumped hydro storage policy for which 63 projects with a capacity of 96 GW have already been identified. "We already have about 5,000 megawatt (MW) of installed capacity and 1,500 MW capacity under installation for pumped hydro. We have identified 63 projects with a potential capacity of 96 GW… the policy will encourage pumped storage," said Singh at the virtual press conference. He said that hydro PSUs will also invest in these projects.

27 GW of solar module manufacturing capacity by Dec '22

Responding to a question on India's domestic solar module manufacturing capacity and the government's plan to make India self-sufficient in the sector through production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, Singh said that by March 2022, almost 17 GW of fresh solar module manufacturing capacity will be created. And by December 2022, the capacity is expected to touch 27 GW. He also added that the plan to have custom duties in place by April 2022 is on track. 

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