Mercom’s renewable energy policy roundup from central, state and government agencies in India for the month of June 2017:

The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) issued a levelized generic tariff for the purchase of generating electricity from small hydro projects, biomass with rankine cycle, non-fossil fuel based co-generation, biomass gasifier, and biogas-based projects for financial year (FY) 2017-18.

A 5 percent Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate for solar has been finalized.

The waiver period for inter-state transmission (ISTS) charges and losses for solar projects has been extended to December 31, 2019. This waiver applies to solar projects that are commissioned on or before December 31, 2019.

The Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) 2017, developed by the Ministry of Power and Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) with technical support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the U.S.-India bilateral Partnership to Advance Clean Energy – Deployment Technical Assistance (PACE-D TA) Program, was launched.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has amended the guidelines for the implementation of 5,000 MW under the viability gap funding (VGF) program for solar under the National Solar Mission (NSM) Phase-II Batch-IV.

The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) has proposed adopting a revised accounting methodology to cut back on tariffs for the existing net-metering program in the state.

The Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA) has issued the ‘Draft Solar Power Policy-2017’ for the state.

The United States and India have agreed that December 14, 2017 will be the last day for India’s solar domestic content requirement (DCR) category.

In Jharkhand, the state government will provide a 50 percent subsidy to residential consumers installing rooftop solar and a 10 percent subsidy to commercial (industrial) consumers installing rooftop solar.

The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) has released its draft national energy policy (NEP) for 2017. The report predicts that the share of solar and wind to be 14 to 18 percent of the country’s electricity mix compared to 1 percent today.