The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has issued draft regulations for the forecasting, scheduling, and deviation settlement for solar and wind power generation in the state.

According to the new regulations, MERC would impose the deviation charges on project developers and procurers for under as well as over injection of power into the grid.

These regulations will come into force six months after the date of publication in the state’s official gazette.

The regulations would apply to all the wind and solar energy generators having a minimum capacity of 5 MW connected to the intra-state transmission system. This would also apply to those who are connected through pooling sub-stations and are using the power generated for self-consumption or sale within or outside the state of Maharashtra.

According to the regulations, the wind and solar project developers will be required to appoint a qualified coordinating agency (QCA) for meter reading, data collection and communication. The QCA would also ensure coordination with the distribution companies (DISCOMs), the state load dispatch centers and other agencies, as well as the settlement of deviation charges.

For the sale or self-consumption of power within the state of Maharashtra, if the actual injected generation of a stand-alone generator or the aggregate of such generation at a pooling sub-station differs from the scheduled generation, the deviation charge for the excess or shortfall will be payable by the QCA to the state deviation settlement mechanism (DSM) pool.

With this, Maharashtra will become the fifth state after Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu to issue regulations for the forecasting, scheduling, and deviation settlement of solar and wind generation.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, Maharashtra has installed large-scale solar capacity of 886.24 MW to date.

The sudden surge in planned renewable capacity of the country has many in the industry wondering if India’s transmission infrastructure is equipped to handle the influx of renewable sources of power generation.

One after another, the states are announcing the addition of deviation charges, anticipating challenges in the integration of new intermittent energy sources to the grid. It will eventually depend on solar and wind companies to improve their forecasting capabilities to avoid taking up additional costs by under or over producing.