New Delhi: In a significant move aimed at gradually reducing thermal power generation, the government has amended norms to allow power generators (gencos) to bundle renewable energy under existing PPAs.
The Ministries of Power, and New and Renewable Energy have revised the relevant norms as part of the larger efforts to have 500 GW of clean energy generation capacity by 2030.
In a statement on Tuesday, the power ministry said the revised norms would enable replacement of fossil fuels-based energy generation with energy from renewable sources under existing Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). The two ministries have issued "revised guidelines providing for thermal generation companies to set up renewable energy generation capacity either by themselves or through developers by open bids and supplying it to the consumers under the existing PPAs," the statement said.
According to the statement, as the cost of renewable energy is less than that of thermal energy, the gains from the bundling of renewable energy with thermal will be shared between the generator and distribution companies/other procurers on a 50:50 basis. As the renewable energy will be balanced with thermal energy, discoms (power distribution companies) will not be required to acquire any separate capacity for balancing of renewable energy.
This is a very significant step towards achieving the goal of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030, the ministry said.