The electricity market at Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) traded a volume of 6769 MU (million units) and registered a 50% year-on-year (YoY) growth in February 2021.

The Green Term-Ahead Market traded a volume of 93.72 MU during the month, comprising 37.5 MU in the solar segment and 56 MU in the non-solar segment.

In December 2020, IEX had launched green daily and green weekly contracts on its green market trading platform. The contracts will be available for both solar and non-solar power and will start trading immediately.

The distribution utilities, renewable generators, and open access consumers leverage the green market to buy-sell green energy and fulfill the Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) targets.

The green market has cumulatively traded 735 MU volume since its launch on August 21, 2020.

The overall volume growth indicates that the exchange’s electricity market is the preferred option for distribution utilities and industrial consumers. Both can source electricity to address the demand-supply balance while optimizing the power procurement portfolio a competitive price flexibly and transparently.

According to the data published by the National Load Despatch Center (NLDC), the national peak demand at 188 GW registered 2.17% YoY growth. At the same time, the average daily electricity consumption increased 3.31% YoY in February 2021. One Nation One Price prevailed during all 28 days of the month.

According to Rohit Bajaj, Head-Business Development, IEX, with the revival of industrial and economic activity, there was a visible rise in demand of power across several states. National demand increased by over 3% YoY during the month despite a high base.

 

Day-Ahead, Term-Ahead, and Real-Time Electricity Market

The day-ahead market traded 5,124 MU and saw a 19.5% YoY growth in February 2021. The cumulative sell bids at 8,535 MU were 1.7 times of cleared volume, indicating ample power availability in the market.

The average monthly price at ₹3.39 (~$0.047)/kWh during the month saw a 16% YoY increase driven by a sharp increase in demand by several states.

The term-ahead market comprising intra-day, contingency, daily, and weekly contracts traded 432 MU in February 2021, recording a  90.84% YoY increase. The real-time market continued its impressive performance, trading 1118.45 MU in February 2021.

The market crossed the 1BU+ volume milestone for the third consecutive month. The sell-side bids at twice the cleared volume indicate good power availability in the market. The market discovered an average price at ₹3.31(~$0.045)/unit and saw average daily participation from 323 participants in February 2021.

The real-time market (RTM) has supported utilities and open access consumers in balancing the real-time demand with the delivery of power at just a 1.5-hour notice. Since its launch on June 01, 2020, the real-time market has cumulatively traded 8054 MU.

In January 2021, IEX had announced that its RTM witnessed a trading volume of 1,233 million units (MU), a 9.2% monthly increase.

Renewable Energy Certificates

The REC trading session scheduled on February 24, 2021, did not occur due to the stay order from APTEL in response to the petitions filed by a few Renewable Energy Associations against the CERC order dated June 2020 regarding revision in the floor and forbearance prices of REC.

Rahul is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Before entering the world of renewables, Rahul was head of the Gujarat bureau for The Quint. He has also worked for DNA Ahmedabad and Ahmedabad Mirror. Hailing from a banking and finance background, Rahul has also worked for JP Morgan Chase and State Bank of India. More articles from Rahul Nair.