The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) has changed its renewable purchase obligation (RPO) and compliance standards setting the national capital territory’s RPO trajectory till fiscal year 2025-26. The modification adheres to the Ministry of Power’s (MoP) requirements by adding wind energy into the RPO and reclassifying solar energy as ‘Other RPO’.
According to DERC, the RPO for wind energy will be met by projects completed after March 31, 2022. The extra wind energy consumed above 7 per cent of total energy consumption from installations completed by March 31, 2022 may also satisfy the RPO. A special category for wind RPO is expected to increase wind installations while lowering the cost of power supplied by these projects. According to the regulator, the hydropower purchase obligation (HPO) can only be met by energy generated by big hydro projects, including pumped hydro projects that were completed after March 8, 2019.
Excess energy consumed by qualifying projects such as big hydro, pumped storage, and small hydro projects can also be used to meet the other RPO obligation. If the target for the ‘Other RPO’ category is not met in a given year, the shortfall can be made up by using excess energy generated by wind projects completed after March 31, 2022, or eligible large hydro, pumped storage, and small hydro projects completed after March 8, 2019 in excess of the HPO target for that year. If the ‘wind RPO’ category target is not met, the remaining shortfall can be covered by extra energy consumed from hydropower projects that is greater than HPO for that year, and vice versa.
