Clean Energy Agencies Asked To Ink Purchase Agreements For Power Projects Without Buyers
The deadline for the agencies to carry out the directive is Nov. 30.
The Ministry of Power has asked renewable energy implementation agencies to look into inking power purchase agreements with clean energy developers with regards to those projects which don't have buyers.
According to a ministry document accessed by Reuters, the development came about after clean energy projects worth 50 gigawatts were unable to get online because of unfinished transmission lines and a delay in legal and regulatory requirements.
This led to the signing of purchase agreements getting held up. The ministry is set to subvert the typical setup where the REIAs sign agreements with the end-buyer as well as the energy developers.
It has instead told REIA's to sign agreements directly with developers without also signing with a buyer, and if that fails, to resort to cancelling the tender.
The ministry issued this mandate after it had a high-level meeting chaired by India's power secretary on Oct. 17. The meeting was attended by representatives from power generating companies like NTPC Ltd., NHPC Ltd. and SJVN Ltd. along with the Solar Energy Corp., who are all REIA designates.
The deadline for the agencies to carry out the directive is Nov. 30.
This is part of India's efforts to streamline the framework for renewable energy project procurement and take care of problems with the execution of these projects, in order to double the non-fossil fuel capacity to 500 GW by 2030.
Up to 42 GW or the 93 GW of renewable capacity tendered from fiscal 2024 onwards are without buyers according to data shared during the meeting, according to the document Reuters cited.
NHPC had 15.8 GW of projects, which is the most number of clean energy projects without a buyer. NTPC had 12.4 GW worth of clean energy projects in limbo.
SJVN had 10 GW, and SECI had 3.9 GW, according to the document.
SECI, the largest REIA in the country, had already cancelled its tenders for projects as it was not likely to secure buyers, the document stated.
