The Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) for the state of Goa and union territories has issued draft regulations for determining tariffs from renewable sources including solar. The draft is up for comments and suggestions from stakeholders up to June 4, 2019.

The JERC is the fourth electricity regulatory commission after Maharashtra, Bihar and Tamil Nadu to issue renewable energy tariff order in 2019.

These regulations will apply to the state of Goa and the union territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, Lakshadweep, and Puducherry. The regulations are applicable in all cases where tariff for renewable energy power generating station commissioned during the control period and based on renewable sources of energy is to be determined by the JERC.

The control period of these regulations will be of three years starting from the date of the notification of these regulations. The first year will be the financial year (FY) 2019-20, and the last will be FY 2021-22.

It has been specified that the tariff period for wind, solar photovoltaic and solar thermal will be 25 years, and for biomass with Rankine cycle technology, municipal solid waste, refuse-derived fuel, biomass gasifier project, biogas projects and cold plasma projects, the tariff period will be 20 years. Moreover, for small hydro and tidal energy, the tariff period will be 35 years.

For renewable energy technologies, for which generic tariff is determined by the JERC, the distribution DISCOM can procure power from projects either at the generic tariff approved by the commission or through the competitive bidding process. In case the DISCOM opts to procure electricity from renewable energy projects through a competitive bidding process, the generic tariff will act as the ceiling tariff.

All renewable energy power projects will be treated as “must run” and the procurement of power from such projects will not be subjected to ‘merit order dispatch’ principles. In case the payment of any bill payable under these regulations is delayed beyond a period of 60 days from the date of receipt of a bill, a late payment surcharge at the rate of 1.25% per month will be levied by the generating company.

In January 2019, the JERC extended the control period of JERC’s 2015 regulations for grid-connected solar power by three years up to May 14, 2019.