The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has notified levelised generic tariffs for renewables for the financial year of 2022-23. The tariffs’ control period is from July 1, 2020 to March 31, 2023. Small hydro, biomass power, non-fossil fuel-based cogeneration, biomass gasifiers, and biogas power projects will be subject to the project-specific tariff. A single part tariff with two components including the fixed costs and fuel costs has been proposed for renewable energy technologies with fuel cost components. A useful life period of 25 years will apply to all these projects except for small hydro projects whose useful life has been set at 40 years. The Commission approved a debt-equity ratio of 70:30 and a rate of return of 16.96 per cent for the first 20 years and 21.52 per cent after 20 years.
The depreciation rate for the first 15 years is set at 4.67 per cent. The rate of depreciation from the 16th year will spread over the remaining useful life of the renewable energy projects. For small hydro projects, the rate of depreciation from the 16th year will be 0.80 per cent, and 2 per cent for biomass projects, non-fossil fuel cogeneration projects, biomass gasifiers, and biogas-based projects.
The operating and maintenance costs for financial year 2022-23 will be 3.84 percent. The net capital cost for hydropower projects up to 25 MW in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, and northeastern states is Rs 110 million per MW. In other states, the net capital cost for projects under 5 MW is Rs 78 million per MW and the net capital cost for projects between 5 MW and 25 MW is Rs 90 million per MW.
The levelised tariff for small hydro projects below 5 MW in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, northeastern states and union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh for the year of 2023 is Rs 5.23 per kWh. The tariff in other states is Rs 5.84 per kWh. The levelised tariff for small hydro projects from 5 MW up to 25 MW in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, northeastern states and union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh for the year 2023 is Rs 4.76 per kWh. The tariff in other states is Rs 5.76 per kWh. The levelised tariff for bagasse-based cogeneration projects ranges from Rs 6.05 per kWh in Telangana to Rs 7.70 per kWh in Haryana. The levelised tariff for biomass gasifier projects in Tamil Nadu ranges from Rs 7.58 per kWh to Rs 8.71 per kWh in Punjab. For biogas-based projects, the levelized tariff is Rs 8.59 per kWh.
