Validity of Solar Project Tariffs Extended Until Sept 30 in Uttarakhand

UERC has extended the validity for the benchmark capital cost and levelised generic tariff for solar power projects in Uttarakhand until September 30, 2020.

The Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC) has published a new order extending the validity period for the benchmark capital cost and levelised generic tariff for solar power projects in the state which were issued by it in June 2019, at least until September 30, 2020.

The meeting attended by D.P. Gairola Member (Law), and M.K. Jain Member (Technical), was conducted in the matter of extension of the period of applicability of the benchmark capital cost and levelised generic tariff issued by the Commission for solar energy based plants vide Suo-moto Order dated June 7, 2019.

In its notification, the commission stated that it reviews the benchmark capital cost annually based on the prices of solar panels/modules in the international market and prices of indigenous solar modules.

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“However, Coronavirus (COVID 19) outbreak has affected the global supply chain of solar power modules resulted in the non-availability of generalised data of module price. Further, in line with the decision of the Central Government, the State Government has declared COVID 19 epidemic because of which all construction activities along with other commercial activities have been disrupted for the solar power developers. The Central and State Government has further extended the lockdown with certain relaxation and it appears that commercial activities w.r.t. development of solar energy based power projects may take time to get normalised,” the commission stated.

Citing these reasons, it has confirmed that it is of the view that the levelised generic tariff issued vide Commission’s Suo-moto Order dated June 7, 2019, shall continue to remain in force till September 30, 2020.

The benchmark cost was set at Rs 3.563 crore/MW for large-scale solar projects, and the gross levelised tariff was determined to be Rs 4.49/kWh for large-scale solar projects with an accelerated depreciation (AD) of Rs 0.24/kWh for projects commissioned on or after April 1, 2019.

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Earlier this month, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has released the draft of its 2020 regulations for the “Terms and Conditions for Tariff determination from Renewable Energy Sources.” The national power sector regulator has invited comments/ suggestions from industry stakeholders on the proposed draft bill, with a deadline set for May 28, 2020. These regulations shall apply to cases where tariff for a grid-connected generating station or a unit thereof commissioned during the control period and based on renewable energy sources, is to be determined by the Commission.