MNRE Minister Launches Green Energy Open Access Portal

In continuation of several initiatives to promote  clean and green energy by Government of India, the Union Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy, R K Singh has launched the Green Energy Open Access Portal today through video conferencing. The Minister of State for Power, Krishan Pal, also graced the occasion. Secretary (Power), Chairperson, CEA and CMD, POSOCO along with other senior officers were also present on the occasion. About 500 participants from the States, Regulatory Commissions, RE developers and other stakeholders joined the event.

Any consumer with a connected load of 100 kW or above can get renewable energy through open access from any Renewable Energy generating plant set up by himself; or by any developer. The open access has to be granted within 15 days. The application for open access can be made on this portal.

The portal can be accessed at https://greenopenaccess.in/ for processing of applications related to green energy open access by the stakeholders including open access participants, traders, Power Exchanges, national / regional / state load despatch centres, central/state transmission utilities. The portal provides a transparent, simplified, uniform and streamlined procedure for granting open access to green energy that will be key to facilitating deepening of electricity markets and enabling integration of renewable energy (RE) resources into the grid.

Ministry of Power notified the Electricity (promoting renewable energy through Green Energy Open Access) rules, 2022 on 06^th June 2022. These rules aim at promotion of generation, purchase and consumption of green energy including the energy from waste-to-energy plants.

Union Minister R.K.Singh, speaking on the occasion mentioned the importance of transition to clean energy. He mentioned that India is contributing only 3.5% to the global emission despite having about 17% of world population and India is leading the clean energy transition globally and has the fastest growth of RE capacity addition. Ministry of Power has taken a number of initiatives in this regard and many more are in advanced stages. He emphasised the importance of ease of implementation in reform process.

Minster of State for Power, Krishan Pal mentioned that the objective of the Green Open Access rules is to provide access to green energy generation, sale and purchase  and consumption for RPO fulfilment. He mentioned that these rules will benefit the small consumers mostly and would remove bottlenecks in the administration of open access for renewable energy.

Alok Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Power, mentioned the need of energy security with green and clean energy resources in the future. India is committed to meeting the NDC targets of 50% installed capacity from non-fossil fuel sources and is on the verge of ushering in a mass revolution in the green energy transition. The Green Energy Open Access rules support India’s vision of transition to clean energy with participation of all generators, DISCOMs, and other stakeholders. He mentioned about various reforms and actions being taken such as integrated transmission planning for renewables integration, carbon market, streamlining and harmonised captive consumption and banking for renewable energy.

The Nodal agencies shall post progress reports related to green energy open access to stakeholders through the portal. The approval for Green Energy Open Access will be granted in 15 days or else it will be deemed to have been granted, subject to the fulfilment of technical requirements through the portal.

The move is aimed at ensuring affordable, reliable, sustainable, and green energy for all. The consumers can now get access to RE power easily.

The significance of Green Open Access has a significant role to play in augmenting access to green energy while also paving the way for investment in the sector.