Renewable energy mandatory for PSPCL, PEDA

CHANDIGARH:
Gurpreet Singh Nibber
The Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) has made the generation and consumption of renewable energy mandatory for the Punjab Energy Development Authority (PEDA) and the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), respectively.
The commission has clarified that the cost of power would increase in Punjab once it is generated by renewable energy sources. The union ministry of new and renewable energy has asked all states to adopt green energy to fight global warming.

The commission, through regulations notified by the Punjab government on June 10 last year, has also suggested a roadmap for the two agencies to generate/consume power from renewable sources. Failure to comply would invite penalty from PSERC.

In the roadmap, PSERC has recommended that PSPCL and PEDA must make arrangements for 2.4% consumption from renewable sources in 201112, 2.9% in 2012-13, 3.5% 2013-14 and 4% in 2014-15.

Looking at the growth of power requirement in the state, the total annual consumption would touch 50,000 million units in 2014-15; by then, PSPCL and PEDA are required to make arrangements for 2,000 million units of RE power.

The commission has given the responsibility of power generation from renewable sources to PEDA and made it mandatory for PSPCL to buy all power from PEDA. The commission has also advised PEDA to form a special purpose vehicle and involve private partners to generate power from renewable sources.

To give a boost to green energy, PSERC has awarded the highest tariff of Rs 5.05 per unit to biomass-based generation projects. For the proportion of renewable power to be consumed by PSPCL, PEDA needs to install a generation capacity of at least 700 MW.
However, the latter is way behind the target.