Renewable Energy Ministry Creates Purchase Obligations Compliance Cell

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has created a Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPO) compliance cell to ensure all States adhere to the RPO targets defined by the government till 2022. As per a recent notification issued by the Ministry, Mr. Tarun Singh, Scientist C of MNRE has been designated as the nodal officer of the cell, which will coordinate with the Central and State Electricity Regulatory Commissions on matters relating to RPO compliance.

The government’s target of achieving 175-GW renewable energy by 2022 is also associated with the fulfilment of RPO of state distribution companies (discoms).

“This step of MNRE to appoint an RPO compliance cell is a welcome move. The cell may monitor fulfilment of RPO along with the timeline of commissioning of renewable energy projects and associated transmission, which is mandated by the government to be awarded on tariff-based competitive bidding basis as per guidelines issued on the subject,” Electric Power Transmission Association (EPTA) Director General Mr. Subhash Sethi informed.

The national tariff policy notified in 2016 mandated 8% solar RPO for every State. However most States are not in compliance and MNRE is trying to push all States to adopt the targeted RPO, which will in turn increase the demand for solar power generation in order to meet the target. Only Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland and Meghalaya and one union territory Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been meeting targets. Though India has been making progress over the past few years having installed more than 20-GW, it needs to add capacities at the rate of over 19-GW per year to achieve its target of 100-GW.