The Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) traded 280 million units (MU) of renewable energy in January 2022, a 23.28% month-over-month (MoM) decline compared to 365 MU traded in the previous month.

The exchange traded 8.65 billion units (BU) of energy during the month, with a 16% year-over-year (YoY) growth. Energy consumption increased 2.43% YoY to 112.67 BU in the month. In January 2022, the peak power demand stood at 192.07 GW, with a 1.09% YoY growth.

Green Market: Day-Ahead and Term-Ahead

The Green Term comprises both the day-ahead and term-ahead contracts.

The Green Day-Ahead Market (GDAM) traded a record 198 MU of energy volume with the weighted average price of ₹4.19 (~$0.056)/kWh. In January 2022, 160 participants took part in the trading. Last month, 105 participants were involved in the trading.

The Green Term-Ahead Market traded 82 MU during the month with a 60.57% MoM decline. In January 2022, 44 distribution companies (DISCOMs) from Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Bihar, Daman and Diu, and several industrial consumers participated. Last month, 39 companies participated in the trading.

Rohit Bajaj, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Development, IEX, said, “There is a slight correction in total traded volume under Green Market (GDAM + GTAM) from 467 MU traded in November 2021 to 335 MU traded in January 2022. Since we now have both the Day-Ahead and Term-Ahead contracts under Green Market, the participants are leveraging both the market segments to meet their demand-supply requirements optimally. The traded volume under Green Market peaked during the July-Sep quarter of FY21 due to peak wind season resulting in high sell-side availability with DISCOMs. However, starting October with the wind season gradually receding, a similar pattern is observed in the volume numbers. We expect volume to pick up from March onwards as small hydro generations increase. The wind season also starts in the country from May and hence volume again is expected to rise sharply May onwards with the increased wind generation,”

IEX said the average monthly price of solar energy stood at ₹3.59 (~$0.048)/kWh and non-solar energy at ₹3.96 (~$0.053)/kWh during the month.

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

In January 2022, the Day-Ahead Market traded 5.28 BU volume and registered a 5% YoY decline. However, the average market clearing price increased 6.7% YoY to ₹3.39 (~$0.045)/kWh during the month and declined 4.1% MoM.

The Term-Ahead Market comprising intra-day, contingency, daily, and weekly contracts, traded a total of 390 MU volume, an 11.6% MoM growth compared to 350 MU traded in the last month.

In January 2022, the Real-Time Electricity Market (RTM) traded 1.57 BU with a 28% YoY growth and an average monthly price of ₹3.44 (~$0.046)/kWh. The market achieved the highest single-day volume of 75 MU on January 7.

IEX said, “During January 2022, 543 participants transacted in the exchange’s RTM market. The consistent growth in volumes in this market segment indicatives the significance of this segment for both distribution utilities and industries in balancing real-time power demand-supply requirements.”

Renewable Energy Certificate Market

 IEX traded 1.12 million renewable energy certificates (RECs) in January 2021, including 933,000 non-solar RECs and 193,000 solar RECs. The exchange discovered a price of ₹2,300 (~$30.71) per certificate for solar RECs and ₹1,000 (~$13.35) per certificate for non-solar RECs.

The exchange has scheduled the next REC trading session for February 23, 2022.