The Union Power Minister R.K. Singh held a meeting recently in the national capital to discuss the implementation issues regarding the mechanism issued by Ministry of Power for providing flexibility in the generation and scheduling of thermal power stations to reduce emissions.

This meeting was one of among many that the minister has called to streamline the power sector for seamless operations in the future.

The mechanism for allowing flexibility in generation and scheduling of thermal power stations was issued by the Ministry of Power, under which a generating company can establish or procure renewable energy generating capacity anywhere in the country and utilize it for supplying power against the existing commitments. There were several issues which required resolution for a smooth implementation of the above mechanism. Singh gave appropriate directions to resolve such issues during the meeting. Highlighting India’s commitments at the international forum, the minister said that all necessary policy support should be provided for encouraging renewable capacity addition leading to energy security and environmental protection.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, India has so far installed capacity of ~30 GW solar PV while ~19 GW is under various stages of development. This move by the minister will help in fast-paced installations, given that the thermal projects will also be procuring renewable energy in case they have to shut down for a few days due to coal unavailability, which has been a rampant issue.

Recently, Singh also met with stakeholders to discuss the issues affecting the renewable energy sector. This meeting saw the participation of the MNRE secretary and other senior officials from the Department of Economic Affairs, Department of Expenditure, Department of Financial Services, Department of Revenue and various representatives of the public and private banks and financial institutions.

In this meeting, it was decided that the MNRE would follow up with the Reserve Bank of India for the removal of the priority sector lending limit for the renewable energy sector. This move is expected to encourage the private sector banks to lend more to renewable energy projects and help developers with much-needed financing options.