Measures Taken by Govt to Accommodate Larger Shares of RE in the Grid

The Indian Govertnment has taken various measures to accommodate larger shares of renewable energy in the grid, the information was given by Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy, R.K.Singh in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.

The measures taken to accommodate larger shares of renewable energy in the grid include the following:

Under Green Energy Corridor Scheme-Intra-State approx. 9700 ckm of transmission lines and 22600 MVA capacity of substations have been planned in eight states for evacuation of approx. 24 GW of RE projects. Out of this, 8405 ckm transmission lines and 15268 MVA of substations have been completed.

Under Green Energy Corridor-Inter-State approx. 3200 ckm of transmission lines and 17000 MVA capacity of substations have been commissioned in March 2020 for evacuation of approx. 6 GW of RE projects.

Inter-State transmission system for 66.5 GW Renewable Energy Zones (REZ) spread across the country has been planned for power evacuation and grid integration.

Also the following steps, inter alia, have been taken by the Government to resolve the issue of long pending dues of power distribution companies (Discoms) to renewable power generators:

(i) Payment security mechanism has been inbuilt in the Standard Bidding Guidelines issued by MNRE for renewable energy projects. Under this, provision of payment security fund has been made and all bids through Renewable Energy Implementing Agencies (REIA) such as SECI, NTPC, and NHPC have a provision of Tripartite Agreement (TPA) to ensure timely payment.

(ii) In addition, Ministry of Power has issued an order (no. 23/22/2019-R&R dated 28.06.2019) which mandates opening of Letter of Credit (LC) by DISCOMS as Payment Security Mechanism.

(iii) The State Governments have been requested to pay outstanding dues to the renewable energy developers.

(iv) The Government of India has facilitated providing loan to various State DISCOMs through Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd.(IREDA), Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd. (REC) to clear outstanding dues to renewable energy developers.

Intra-State Green Energy Corridor Phase-II scheme is under finalization for setting up 10750 ckm of transmission lines and 27500 MVA capacity of substations.