Union minister of state for power, coal, new and renewable energy and mines, Piyush Goyal was present at the signing of power purchase agreements (PPAs) for purchase of 1050 MW of wind power under the ministry of new and renewable energy’s (MNRE) first wind auction scheme.

 

The PPAs were signed between PTC India Ltd., the trading company, and the successful wind power developers.

 

According to the PPAs, Mytrah Energy, Inox Wind and Ostro Kutch Wind Pvt. Ltd would supply wind power of capacity 250 MW each. Further, Green Infra would supply 249.9 MW and Adani Green Energy 50 MW from their wind power projects through inter-state transmission system at a tariff of Rs 3.46 per kWh discovered through the open and transparent competitive bidding process.

 

PTC India has tied-up this wind power for sale to DISCOMS (distribution companies) of various states. Under this, Uttar Pradesh would get 449.9 MW of wind power, Bihar 200 MW, Jharkhand 200 MW, Delhi 100 MW, Assam 50 MW and Odisha 50 MW for meeting their non-solar renewable purchase obligation (RPO).

 

For these projects, Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a central government enterprise, conducted e-reverse auction on February 23, 2017 and issued Letter of Award (LoA) to the successful wind power developers on April 5, 2017. The wind power projects under first wind auction are likely to be commissioned by September, 2018.

 

Piyush Goyal congratulated all stakeholders of the sector on their coordinated efforts to drastically slash renewable energy tariffs and encouraged everyone to keep the interests of the end consumers as their priority. He also suggested the idea of doing away with the requirement of separate RPO for different renewable energy sources and allows states to independently decide their energy mix.

 

The minister desired that wind energy bids should be brought out every month, though he also advised the senior ministry officials to calibrate the pace of this process keeping in mind the affordability of renewable energy for common man. Industry players which are inefficient would either evolve and face competition in the sector or finally wind up.

 

Goyal also informed that the ministry is working to bring robust guidelines for the wind energy bidding and is in discussions with regulators for better forecasting and scheduling of renewable energy in the grid. The minister also informed that with every unit of renewable power generated in the country, jobs are being created to the tune of 5-7 times as compared to power generated through conventional energy sources.

 

MNRE secretary, Anand Kumar said the ministry has done away with the Inter State Transmission levies on transfer of renewable energy from windy states to non-windy ones, which would aid the latter to meet their RPOs and keep the costs of power affordable.

 

Earlier, MNRE had sanctioned a scheme for setting up of 1000 MW inter-state transmission system (ISTS) connected Wind Power Projects on 14th June 2016 with the objective to encourage competitiveness through scaling up of project sizes and introduction of efficient and transparent e-bidding and e-auctioning processes.