Earlier the commission provided carry forward to the PCPCL for unmet RPO of FY 13-14 to FY 14-15 which were be met along with the RPO for FY 2014-15. PSPCL in its petition provided the status of its RPO compliance for FY 14-15 including for FY 2013-14, which is given in the table below:

PSPCL in its petition for carry forward of RPO cited various reasons for non-compliance of RPO. The reasons cited by PSERC were:

1. Delay in the commissioning of the Project during FY 14-15.
2. Financial constraints to purchase RECs.
3. And also stated that it was due to factors beyond control of PSPCL and RPO targets being set by the commission are unachievable.

PEDA in its submission stated that PSPCL misconstrued the RPO targets fixed by commission, as RPO targets can be met through alternate channels and not only by way of RE purchases.

The commission in its order stated that it does not accept that the RPO targets were unachievable and that the shortfall in compliance was not out of control. The commission also stated that it does not accept the argument of alleged financial constraints of PSPCL and its inability to purchase RECs.

The commission also cited the APTEL Judgment which has issued directions to State Electricity Regulatory Commissions and Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission to enforce RPO, and Thus the Commissions are bound to enforce their respective RPO Regulations.

The commission in its judgement has provided the carry forward to FY 15-16 and has taken strict not for the Non-compliance of the RPO, directing the PSPCL to comply with the RPO obligations latest by 30^th Dec 2015 and communicated that failing which further action as per Regulations may be initiated.

• The solar rooftop system to be installed can be self owned system or a third party owned system.
• The solar rooftop systems shall be of Min. 1kWp capacity and Max. 1Mwp capacity with or without battery backup.
• ?The Discom shall offer the provision of Net Metering to the consumer who intends to install rooftop systems on first come first serve basis.
• ?A maximum cumulative capacity at a particular distribution transformer shall not exceed 30% of the rated capacity of the distribution transformer.
• The capacity of an individual rooftop PV system shall not exceed 80% of the sanctioned load of the consumer.
• The energy accounting and settlement will be done based on the reading of the bidirectional meters.
• The cost of installation of the bidirectional meters will be borne by the consumer and shall be maintained and installed by distribution licensee.
• Any energy credits of a consumer from previous months will be carried forward to next billing period and will be set to zero after the settlement period.
• The electricity generated from solar rooftop systems shall not be more than 90% of the total energy consumption of any consumer in a settlement period. No payment shall be made by the distribution licensee, beyond this limit.
• The quantum of energy consumed from the rooftop system will be considered towards the Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) of Distribution licensee if the consumer is not an obligated entity.
• The rooftop systems shall be exempted from payment of wheeling, banking and cross subsidy surcharge applicable under PSERC (Terms & Conditions for Intra-State Open Access) Regulations, 2011, as amended from time to time.
• The eligibility for availing benefits of REC mechanism shall be as per CERC REC Regulation 2010.

PSERC earlier notified its draft regulation and invited comments from stake holders and interested parties, following that the commission has finalized the regulation. The regulation seems to be a good sign for development of solar energy in the state as the PEDA (Punjab Energy Development Agency) has already announced its policy for rooftop solar energy systems.
The regulation can be accessed here.

The net shortfall of PSPCL RPO compliance was 7.1 % in Non-Solar and a staggering 36.5% in Solar. RPO compliance specified by the commission for FY 2013-14 was, 3.37 % for Non-Solar & 0.13 % for Solar, which PSPCL did not meet. RPO compliance for current FY 2014-15 is 3.81% in Non-Solar and 0.19% in Solar, much higher than previous FY. PSPCL stated several reasons for the shortfall, which the commission reviewed thoroughly.

The commission finally ordered Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) to speed up development of some delayed RE projects, mainly Hydro, which was the main reason for the non-compliance of RPO by PSPCL.

Considering that some of the reasons for the non-compliance were beyond the control of PSERC, it has allowed the net shortfall to be carried forward to FY 2014-15, but has clearly stated that the RPO of FY 2014-15 along with previous year shortfall have to be strictly complied with by 31^st December, 2014 or else heavy penalties will be imposed.

The details can be accessed here.

]]> http://www.slotln.online/punjab-approves-net-metering-policy-for-rooftop-solar/ Mon, 08 Sep 2014 06:11:23 +0000 http://www.slotln.online/blog/?p=2261 Punjab state Govt. has approved the Net Metering Policy for Solar Rooftop systems, a draft for the same has been notified by Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA). According to the policy any consumer of electricity of distribution licensee in the state can setup a Rooftop Solar system under net metering provision, which can be owned by him or by a third party.

A brief Analysis is given below:

The new policy has been approved in order to encourage renewable energy generation in the state. Punjab’s commercial and industrial tariff range between 6.5 to 7.50 Rs/unit, whereas the tariff provided for Solar PV is 7.72 Rs/unit (proposed for FY 14-15). This will not put too much cost liability on the DISCOMS in fulfilling their RPO.

Grant of capital subsidies on PV panels and exemption from paying open access charges and losses, will only encourage generators to invest in rooftop systems after the policy is officially released.

The Draft policy can be accessed here.

Our previous blog post on Punjab RE tariff can be read here.

Contributed by Dheeraj Babariya.

For the current fiscal (FY14), the Punjab Discom has to purchase around 400,000 RECs and the shortfall of 114800 will eventually entail over 500,000 RECs to be purchased by end of December 2013.

With?Maharashtra?and Delhi also pushing for RPO on similar lines, it is expected that the buy side participation ?will improve in the ?poorly performing REC market.

For the copy of the order –?Click Here

• PSPCL did not mention efforts to procure RECs from the market as a step it took to try and meet its RPO
• The commission did mention it as one of the steps it can consider to meet its RPO in the current year. The order states: ” This carry forward shortfall in RPO compliance during 2011-12 to 2012-13 shall be in addition to the RPO specified in the RPO Regulations for that year, to be made good separately for non-solar and solar power as specified by the Commission, through purchase/generation of electricity from RE Projects on best efforts or in case of non-availability of such electricity, through purchase of RECs from the Power Exchange(s)”
• It is unclear whether the waiver will also apply to open access and captive consumers. The order is specific to PSPCL, but this may open a way for a carry-forward for open access and captive consumers also

Overall, the order from the commission is in the right direction. Given the nascent stage that REC markets are in, it will be difficult to enforce full penalties due to non-compliance. However, waiver or retrospective change in RPO % would send a wrong signal to the market and obligated entities.