The Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) traded 377 million units (MU) of renewable energy in December 2022, an 6% increase month-over-month (MoM) compared to 354 MU traded in the previous month and a 2% year-over-year (YoY) increase.

This included the energy traded in the Green Day-Ahead Market (GDAM) and Green Term-Ahead Market (GTAM).

The exchange traded 8,452 MU of energy during December, including renewable energy certificates (REC) equivalent to 487 MU. The overall volume on the exchange saw a 9% MoM increase. However, it declined by 7% year-over-year due to high REC traded volumes in the previous year.

IEX recorded 24.2 BU volume and saw a 5% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) growth across all its market segments in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2023.

The exchange said that improving coal inventory and the onset of winter will reduce the clearing price further, which is expected to provide cost optimization opportunities to power distribution companies and open access consumers.

According to data from the National Load Dispatch Center, the energy demand met in December 2022 was 121 BU, a 10% increase from the previous year. The exchange achieved 1,130 MU volume in the third quarter of the financial year (FY) 2022-23, a decline of 6% YoY.

Green Market: Day-Ahead and Term-Ahead

The GDAM traded 241 MU volume with a weighted average price of ₹5.24 ($0.063)/ kWh, down 16% MoM. The market saw participation from 212 entities during the month, with the highest number of participants in a single day at 153 on December 21, 2022.

The GTAM traded 137 MU volume during the month. The average monthly price for solar was ₹5.20 ($0.063)/ kWh and ₹5.54 ($0.067)/kWh for non-solar, and ₹5.81 ($0.070)/ kWh for hydropower.

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

In December 2022, the volume of the Day-Ahead Market (DAM) decreased by 2% MoM to 5,001 MU. The DAM volume was also down 8% from the previous year due to high prices caused by a constrained supply.

The DAM saw a cumulative trade of 14.4 BU, a 30% QoQ growth in Q3 23. However, the market saw a 13% decrease from the previous year.

The Real-Time Electricity Market achieved 1,763 MU volume during the month, registering 25% MoM and 17 YoY growth.  There were 670 participants in this segment. According to IEX, the consistent growth of the real-time electricity market indicates the growing reliance on distribution utilities and industries to achieve the power demand-supply balancing in real-time most efficiently.

The Real-Time Electricity Market achieved a cumulative trade of 5,435 MU in Q3 FY23, increasing by 13% YoY basis.

The Term-Ahead Market comprising intra-day, contingency, daily, and weekly contracts and long-duration contracts traded 822 MU during the month, an increase of 50% MoM and 135% YoY. The segment registered a robust volume of 1,991 MU in Q3 FY23, registering 127% YoY growth.

Renewable Energy Certificate Market

December saw 487,000 RECs cleared, registering an increase of 31% MoM. The last RECs trading session witnessed a clearing price of ₹1,000 (~$12.08)/REC after the implementation of the new REC regulations issued by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The next REC trading session is scheduled for January 25, 2023.

In a recent order, the Delhi High Court suspended the trading of RECs issued before October 31, 2022, for six weeks.