The Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) has taken note of Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited’s (UPPCL) request to modify the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) deviation settlement mechanism (DSM) regulations to take care of the state-specific needs.

The Commission stated that it would issue necessary amendments to the Regulations 2019 as required. Until then, the prevailing regulations will continue to be in force. The Commission added that the DSM would continue to be implemented for all renewable energy-based power projects, except small hydro and municipal solid waste projects. All other renewable projects will be subject to day-ahead scheduling.

The forecasting and scheduling of renewable power and compensation to be paid to electricity grid infrastructure providers in case of errors are regulated through deviation settlement mechanism.

The Commission also observed that UPERC Generation Tariff Regulations 2019, had a provision that said that the state would be governed by the CERC regulations until the state comes up with its specific regulations. On deviation charges, the UPERC Regulations stated:

According to the UPERC Generation Tariff Regulations, 2019:

“Variations between the actual net injection and scheduled net injection for the generating stations and variations between the actual net drawl and scheduled net drawl for the beneficiaries will be treated as their respective deviations and the charges for such deviations will be governed by the CERC Regulations, 2014, till DSM Regulations of the Commission are notified…”

Earlier, the UPPCL had filed a petition seeking modification of the adopted CERC DSM Regulations. UPPCL had also requested the Commission to bring all renewable projects under the adopted CERC DSM by modifying applicable regulations. It also asked the Commission to direct Uttar Pradesh State Load Dispatch Centre (UPSLDC) to maintain accounts for deviation and raise bills on a pro-rata basis for projects up to 400 MW.

The hearing was held on September 05, 2019, where it was submitted that the adopted CERC DSM Regulations might be modified by the Commission to meet the specific requirements of the state. The Commission, in its order dated September 12, 2019, had directed both the parties to discuss the specific modifications required in the adopted CERC DSM Regulations.

Recently, CERC rescheduled the implementation of the fifth amendment of deviation settlement regulations from April 1, 2020, to June 1, 2020. The present regulations (Regulation 7) will now be valid until May 31, 2020.  The move came in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the country and the subsequent derailing of all segments of the economy.

In December last year, UPERC issued draft regulations for forecasting, scheduling, and deviation settlement of solar and wind projects in the state.

Earlier, Mercom had reported that the CERC established a fee for errors based on 15-minute time blocks and charges for deviation payable or receivable to/from regional DSM pools by the renewable generators. If the error is more than 15%, then additional charges for deviation will be levied along with the fixed rate.

So far, states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Telangana, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Meghalaya have issued regulations for the forecasting, scheduling, and deviation settlement for solar and wind generation.

Previously, Mercom published a report that shed light on how difficult forecasting and scheduling can be for renewable developers due to the intrinsic intermittency of these resources.