The Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) has set the generic tariff for the procurement of power from municipal solid waste projects in the state at ₹6.28 (~$0.088)/kWh without accelerated depreciation and ₹5.90 (~$0.082)/kWh with accelerated depreciation applicable effective April 1, 2019.

The tariff will apply to power procured from all municipal solid waste projects of capacity 1 MW and above. The control period of this order will be two years, and the tariff will be applicable for a period of 20 years.

The commission arrived on the tariff after viewing the comments and suggestions from all stakeholders. In February 2019, the TNERC had issued a consultative paper proposing the tariff for the procurement of power from municipal solid waste projects in the state.

The open access charges and other terms and conditions will apply to all the projects irrespective of their date of commissioning. The state commission has ordered that 60 percent of cross-subsidy surcharge applicable to conventional power will be charged on municipal solid waste, in addition to 60 percent of charges applicable for conventional power for the transmission, wheeling, scheduling, and system operation charges.

For municipal solid waste to energy projects under the Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) mechanism, 100 percent of the applicable charges for conventional power will be applicable.

Power generators from municipal solid waste who opt for parallel operation with the grid will have to pay 60 percent of the applicable parallel operation charges to the respective distribution company.

When a municipal solid waste power generator sells power to a DISCOM, it will raise the bill every month for the net energy sold after deducting the charges for electricity drawn from distribution licensee, and reactive power charges. The distribution licensee will make the payment to the generator within 60 days of receipt of the bill. Any delayed payment beyond 60 days will be liable for interest at the rate of 1 percent/month.

Recently, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) also set generic tariffs for the purchase of electricity from a host of renewable energy generation sources during FY 2019-20. The levelized generic tariff will apply to small hydro projects, biomass with Rankine cycle projects, non-fossil fuel-based co-generation projects, biomass gasifiers, and biogas-based projects. These are the finalized tariffs after the CERC proposed it for FY 2019-20 back in January 2019.

Image credit: By Norbert Nagel [CC BY-SA 3.0] via Wikimedia Commons