BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) has entered power purchase agreement (PPA) to procure 100 MW of wind to meet its non-solar renewable purchase obligation (RPO).

Per a Press Trust of India (PTI) report that quoted a BSES spokesperson, “The power is expected to be available to the distribution company (DISCOM) from the third week of November 2019, for a period of 25 years, and will be available at a competitive tariff of Rs.2.52/kWh.”

Per the BSES spokesperson, “With this agreement, the two BSES DISCOMs in Delhi will pool in 400 MW of wind power, he said. Earlier, BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) had signed an agreement for 250 MW wind power and BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) for 50 MW.”

Out of the 400 MW wind power, the DISCOMs will start receiving 100 MW from November this year, and the remaining 300 MW will be available from November 2019. This is not only one of the “lowest tariff” for wind power but is also priced substantially lower than the average cost of long-term power purchasing agreements which are above Rs 4.5 per unit, added the spokesperson.

Recently, BRPL launched an initiative called Solar City in Delhi as a step towards meeting its RPO.

This is a reversal from the previous years when Delhi DISCOMs had scant regard for RPO fulfilment. In March 2017, Mercom reported, “Rather than imposing a penalty on defaulters, the state electricity regulatory commissions (SERCs) have allowed DISCOMs to carry the shortfall forward to the next year. The exemption made by Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) stands out in this aspect, as the DERC had not imposed a penalty stating, “these are the initial days of DISCOMs dealing with renewable energy.”

Market research reveals that the creation of an RPO compliance cell by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is the single most important factor in the change in attitude. Ever since efforts began for the creation of this cell in October 2017, there has been a steady increase in renewable energy certificate (REC) trading too as entities scrambled to meet RPO.