Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has passed an order in the matter of Real-time Market for Electricity in India (RTM) for Allocation of Transmission Corridor beyond 14th June 2020.
On 12th December 2019, the Commission to implement Real-Time Market for electricity in India carried out amendments in various regulations viz., Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Indian Electricity Grid Code) (Sixth Amendment) Regulations, 2019, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Open Access in inter-State Transmission) (Sixth Amendment) Regulations, 2019, and Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Power Market) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2019.
The aforementioned amendments in the Regulations for implementation of RTM were earlier notified to come into effect from 01.04.2020. However, the Commission extended the implementation of RTM vide notifications dated 20th March 2020, by two months, and accordingly the RTM has since been implemented with effect from 1 st June 2020.
On 28th May 2020 the Commission directed NLDC to incorporate the above directions suitably in the detailed procedure for scheduling collective transactions in RTM. The Power Exchanges are also directed to act as per the above directions to ensure smooth implementation of RTM with effect from 1st June 2020.
NLDC made suitable provisions in the detailed procedure for the scheduling of collective transactions in RTM. Further, NLDC has submitted the feedback report on the implementation of Real-Time Market for the period from 1 st June 2020 to 7th June 2020 on 9th June 2020. Subsequently, on 13th June 2020, NLDC submitted a feedback report for the period from 1 st June 2020 to 12 th June 2020.
NLDC has highlighted in its feedback reports that a web-based fully automated RTM clearing engine has been developed at NLDC and Web-Based Energy Scheduling (WBES) Applications in different RLDCs have been synchronized. RTM has been implemented as a fully automated clearing mechanism at NLDC without any manual intervention. Certain technical and communication-related issues were faced in some of the RTM sessions from 1st June to 7th June 2020, which were resolved. Post 7th June 2020, smooth operation of RTM has been observed at NLDC end as well as Power Exchanges end.
NLDC also indicated that for the period from 1st June 2020 to 12th June 2020, the average daily volume traded under RTM was around 12 MU. The minimum and maximum Unconstrained Market Clearing Prices discovered in IEX were Rs. 0.015/kWh and Rs. 4.300/kWh respectively and those for PXIL were Rs. 1.877/kWh and Rs. 4.000/ kWh respectively. During this period, the maximum traded volume was more than 22 MU in a particular day with a maximum cleared volume reaching 1865 MW in a single time block. The total traded volume from 1st June 2020 to 12th June 2020 was 145 MU.
From 1st June 2020 to 12th June 2020, the proportion of successful trades was found to be 97%. Partially successful trades occurred only 1% of the times, and unsuccessful trades resulted in only 2% of the times, the report showed. In its report of 13th June 2020, NLDC has recommended that the current methodology of transmission corridor allocation between Power Exchanges can be continued.
The Commission based on the review of implementation experience and the market results found that apart from initial technical glitches which were swiftly resolved, there were no major challenges in the implementation of RTM with the methodology of transmission corridor allocation
It stated that with the existing methodology of transmission corridor allocation, RTM can be implemented reliably.
The Commission has decided to continue with the same principle and methodology of transmission corridor allocation among the Power Exchanges for RTM beyond 14th June 2020.
The Commission has also directed NLDC and Power Exchanges to give effect to the decisions for the smooth implementation of RTM.
The NLDC will compile and examine the complete record of transactions under RTM for every month, including time block-wise ATC, initial market-clearing volumes of the Power Exchanges, events of transmission congestion, cleared volumes in the Power Exchanges, the performance of software and communication and will have to submit a monthly report to the Commission.
To ensure smooth and effective implementation of RTM the Commission may review the principle and methodology of transmission corridor allocation.
