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					</table>The <a href="https://powermin.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ministry of Power</a> has proposed slashing the Renewable Generation Obligation (RGO) for coal or lignite-based power generating stations to a minimum of 6-10% from the previous 40%.
The ministry issued a draft notification on RGO to establish a minimum requirement for electricity generation from renewable sources for coal or lignite-based power generating stations.
Earlier rules <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/coal-thermal-plants-40-generation-capacity-renewables" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mandated</a> that coal or lignite-based generating stations beginning operation on or after April 1, 2023, must either establish or procure renewable energy equal to 40% of their thermal generation capacity.
The ministry, however, did not mention the reason for reducing the renewable generation obligation targets.
The newly set RGO will be assessed annually, with renewable energy generation as a percentage of the total annual electricity generation, encompassing both conventional and renewable energy sources at designated generating stations.
Stakeholders can submit their comments on the draft to the ministry by October 21, 2023.
The RGO requirements are structured based on the commercial operation date of the power generating stations:
<a href="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Renewable-Generation-Obligation-for-Coal-Lignite-Based-Power-Projects-.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-59345 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Renewable-Generation-Obligation-for-Coal-Lignite-Based-Power-Projects-.png" alt="Renewable Generation Obligation for Coal Lignite Based Power Projects" width="752" height="235" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Renewable-Generation-Obligation-for-Coal-Lignite-Based-Power-Projects-.png 752w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Renewable-Generation-Obligation-for-Coal-Lignite-Based-Power-Projects--300x94.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Renewable-Generation-Obligation-for-Coal-Lignite-Based-Power-Projects--650x203.png 650w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Renewable-Generation-Obligation-for-Coal-Lignite-Based-Power-Projects--624x195.png 624w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Renewable-Generation-Obligation-for-Coal-Lignite-Based-Power-Projects--600x188.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /></a>
The power generators have flexibility in meeting their RGO, including establishing the required renewable energy generating capacity or procuring and supplying renewable energy in the necessary quantity. They can also independently sell renewable energy, regardless of existing power purchase agreements for coal- or lignite-based generating stations.
Captive coal or lignite-based power stations may be exempted from RGO compliance if they fulfill the renewable energy consumption obligation.
Generating companies with multiple coal or lignite-based generating stations are allowed to comply with the RGO on an aggregate basis.
Obligations fulfilled under the &#8220;Program for Flexibility in Generation and Scheduling of Thermal/ Hydro Power Stations through bundling with Renewable Energy and Storage Power, 2022&#8221; will be considered as part of the fulfillment of RGO.
Power generating stations must provide electronic reports detailing electricity generation, including renewable energy generated or procured, for each financial year. These reports should be submitted to the designated agency and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency by June 30 of the following financial year.
The shortfall in achieving RGO targets will be calculated in tons of oil equivalent that considers the target percentage, achieved share of renewable energy, and total electricity generation from coal or lignite-based and renewable energy generating stations.
The penalty for non-compliance will be subjected to section 26 (3) of the Energy Conservation Act 2001. According to this provision, if an entity violates the specified provisions, it can be held accountable for a maximum penalty not exceeding ₹1 million (~$12,010) for each instance of non-compliance. In situations where the violation persists over time, an extra penalty of up to ₹10,000 (~$120) for each day of continued non-compliance may also be imposed.
Earlier, the Ministry of Power had <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/bundling-renewables-thermal-hydropower" target="_blank" rel="noopener">outlined</a> a detailed mechanism allowing bundling thermal and hydropower projects with standalone renewable energy projects or renewable energy projects with battery storage systems either through setting up renewable energy generation capacities themselves or through developers by inviting bids.
Subscribe to Mercom’s real-time <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-renewable-energy-regulatory-updates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Regulatory Updates</a> to ensure you don’t miss any critical updates from the renewable industry.

Government to Slash Renewable Generation Obligation for Coal Plants to 6-10%

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					</table><a href="https://rajasthan.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rajasthan</a> has set a target to install 11 GW of renewable-based generation projects in the next financial year (FY 2023-24), Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced while presenting the Budget for 2023.
Solar Energy
Rajasthan would provide concession in stamp duty and land tax duty to renewable energy developers planning to set up projects in the state.
Gehlot said that this would result in a reduction in electricity duty on solar energy from ₹0.60 (~$0.007)/kWh to ₹0.40 (~$0.005)/kWh, which is expected to benefit residential net metering consumers.
Further, banking, wheeling and transmission charges would be waived for captive solar power projects.
To avail of the benefit, the total capacity of energy generated from these projects should be used by the enterprise.
Also, investors can establish captive solar power projects of capacity above the contracted demand to fulfill their power requirements.
Power-Transmission and Distribution
The state has proposed to set up the Bhadla-Bikaner bulk power corridor to evacuate renewable power from the region.
An Integrated Real-Time Data and Command Center based on advanced data analytics will be established to have a proper account of the energy generation and energy demand. This will cost around ₹750 million (~$9.09 million).
The government has announced that consumers using less than 100 kWh per month will be provided free electricity under the Chief Minister’s Free Electricity program.
The state government has also proposed to provide electricity at a subsidized rate of ₹0.90 (~$0.011)/kWh to farmers. Along with this, starting next financial year, nearly 1.1 million farmers utilizing up to 2,000 units of electricity per month will be provided free electricity.
Other Announcements
The state has announced plans to start an Integrated Resource Recovery Park, which will help recycle waste materials.
Recently, to project Rajasthan as an attractive investment destination, the Rajasthan government <a href="https://mercomindia.com/rajasthan-mous-%e2%82%b91-23-trillion-renewable-projects/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> memorandums of understanding for nearly ₹1.23 trillion (~$15.77 billion) of renewable energy projects under the Invest Rajasthan program. The agreements were signed for 14 projects proposed by both public sector and private companies in the renewable energy sector.
Back in 2019, Rajasthan had <a href="https://mercomindia.com/rajasthan-solar-2025-policy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> its Solar Energy Policy intending to achieve a 30 GW of solar power target by FY 2024-25. Of this, utility or grid-scale solar parks would account for 24 GW, distributed generation 4 GW, rooftop solar, and solar pumps accounting for 1 GW each.

Rajasthan’s Budget Proposes 11 GW of Renewable Projects in FY 2023-24

India’s installed renewable energy (including large hydro projects) capacity stood at 143.9 GW, accounting for a share of 37.4% in the overall power mix at the end of the second quarter (Q2) of 2021, according to preliminary data from the Central Electricity Authority (<a href="https://cea.nic.in/?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CEA</a>), Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (<a href="https://mnre.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MNRE</a>) and Mercom’s <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/india-solar-project-tracker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India Solar Project Tracker</a>.
The share of renewable energy saw a marginal increase from the previous quarter (Q1 2021), when total renewable installations <a href="https://mercomindia.com/solar-share-india-installed-power-capacity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stood </a>at 141.4 GW with a share of 36.94%. Meanwhile, at the end of Q2 2020, the installed renewable energy (including large hydro projects) capacity was 135.22 GW, accounting for 36.26% of the total power mix.
Based on the preliminary numbers, solar installations increased, accounting for 11.2% of the total installed capacity compared to 10.69% in Q1 2021. Wind installations also showed a marginal growth and accounted for 10.26% of the total capacity at the end of Q2 2021.
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Capture-2.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-27491" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Capture-2.png" alt="" width="603" height="359" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Capture-2.png 603w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Capture-2-300x179.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Capture-2-600x357.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 603px) 100vw, 603px" /></a>
Meanwhile, biomass and small hydro accounted for 2.64% and 1.25%, respectively, in Q2 2021. Among renewables, solar accounted for nearly 30% of the total installed capacity at the end of June 2021.
According to <a href="https://mercomindia.com/research-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mercom India Solar Project Tracker</a>, government agencies <a href="https://mercomindia.com/solar-tender-activity-up-yoy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> tenders for 8.5 GW of solar projects in the second quarter of the calendar year (CY) 2021, a 19% decrease compared to 10.6 GW in the <a href="https://mercomindia.com/solar-tenders-rise-27-auctions-163-q1-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">previous quarter</a>. However, the figures were up 60% compared to the same period last year, when only 5.3 GW of solar tenders were announced.
Energy from conventional sources
At the end of Q2 2021, conventional power sources had a cumulative installed capacity of nearly 240 GW, accounting for 62.59% of the total installed capacity – a small decrease from the last quarter’s number of 63%. The segment included power generated from thermal-based sources, including coal
(52.49%), gas (6.48%), lignite (1.72%), and diesel (0.13%); nuclear power made up 1.76% of the total cumulative installed power capacity mix.
Coal continued to lead the way with nearly 202 GW of installations at the end of Q2 2021, a marginal decrease from 202.6 GW at the end of Q1 2021. The overall market share of coal dipped slightly and stood at 52.49%, along with the installed capacity of coal in Q2 2021. Large hydropower projects had the second largest market share with 12.04% of the total installed capacity.
According to the International Energy Agency (<a href="https://www.iea.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IEA</a>), coal accounts for 70% of India’s power generation while solar is less than 4%. However, solar energy will <a href="https://mercomindia.com/solar-equal-coals-share-india/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">witness</a> exponential growth and match coal’s share in the Indian power generation mix by 2040 or earlier. The share of coal is expected to decline from 44% in 2019 to 34% in 2040.

Solar’s Share in India’s Installed Power Capacity Rises to 11.2%

Greece is likely to spend $5.9 billion to neutralize the economic impact of phasing off lignite-based power generation according to a report by <a href="https://www.amna.gr/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Athens News Agency &#8211; Macedonian Press Agency</a>.
In a related development, the partially state-owned refinery and oil marketing company, Hellenic Petroleum (HELPE) has applied for a €75 million ($89.11 million) loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for building a 204 MW solar park near the country’s lignite mining region.
Greek environment and energy minister Kostis Hatzidakis told the agency: “We want a new beginning for Western Macedonia, not to depend only on energy, even after we move to RES (Renewable Energy Sources). We want it to be based on industry, handicrafts, alternative tourism, and ‘smart’ agriculture.”
“We have two main tools in this direction. One is the €5 billion ($5.9 billion) that will be given to the lignite areas, an amount ten times more than the Regional Program of Western Macedonia. The other is the framework of investment-tax incentives that will be finalized by the European Commission and will attract large and significant investments,” the minister told the agency.
Greece is scheduled to abandon solid fossil fuels by 2028, both for environmental and economic reasons. To smoothen the transition, the Greek government has prepared a comprehensive plan to aid lignite phase-off and provide developmental support. Support would be for clean energy, industry, handicrafts and trade, smart agricultural production, sustainable tourism, technology, and education.
The solar power project will be critical to Greece’s decarbonization plans that envisage the decommissioning of the country’s lignite-fired generation projects by 2028. Hellenic Petroleum’s photovoltaic complex will replace lignite-fueled thermal power plants in Western Macedonia.
According to EBRD, the project will create job opportunities, especially for the communities in proximity, mainly affected by the project. During construction, the project is expected to benefit local communities, as half of the 250-300 skilled and non-skilled workers required will be hired locally. Construction is scheduled to begin by the fourth quarter of 2020 and will require 18 months.
The solar power project will be one of the largest in Southeast Europe. It will avoid carbon dioxide generations of almost 187,000 tons per year and meet the power requirement of 75,000 households in Greece, EBRD said in its report.
Recently, <a href="https://www.ppcr.gr/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">PPC Renewables S.A.</a>, a Greece-based renewable energy company, has floated a tender for 50 MW of solar projects. The last date for the submission of bids is September 30, 2020.
Meanwhile, Germany is also <a href="https://mercomindia.com/germany-starts-bidding-process/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">working</a> towards phasing out its coal capacity against compensation. In a recent statement, Germany’s power regulator Bundesnetzagentur said that a maximum of 4,000 MW would be eligible for compensation.

Greece Likely to Spend $5.9 Billion for Lignite Phase-Out, Set Up a 204 MW Solar Park

The Neyveli Lignite Corporation (<a href="https://www.nlcindia.com/new_website/index.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NLC</a>) submitted its annual report for 2019-20, which said that it commissioned 1,421 MW of renewable projects in 2019-20.
With the commissioning of the entire 709 MW solar project in Tamil Nadu, NLC said that it became the first central public service enterprise in the country to have installed solar project capacity of more than 1 GW.
The 20 MW solar project in Andaman &amp; Nicobar Island has also been commissioned entirely, the report added. While 2.5 MW was commissioned in December 2018, the balance 17.5 MW <a href="https://mercomindia.com/nlc-india-commissions-solar-storage-andaman/">was</a> commissioned in June 2020. The commissioning was delayed by three and a half months due to COVID-19.
NLC India had <a href="https://mercomindia.com/nlc-tenders-20-mw-ac-solar-bess-andaman-nicobar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tendered</a> the solar project with BESS to be developed in Andaman &amp; Nicobar in 2017. The capacity tendered comprised two projects of 10 MW each with 8 MWh BESS.
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/NLC-India_Renewable-Projects-Commissioned-during-2019-20-2.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-21479" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/NLC-India_Renewable-Projects-Commissioned-during-2019-20-2.png" alt="NLC India_Renewable Projects Commissioned during 2019-20" width="388" height="331" srcset="https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/NLC-India_Renewable-Projects-Commissioned-during-2019-20-2.png 388w, https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/NLC-India_Renewable-Projects-Commissioned-during-2019-20-2-300x256.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 388px) 100vw, 388px" /></a>
According to the report, COVID-19 had little impact on the existing solar projects, but operating projects did suffer delays in obtaining critical spares due to the broken supply during the lockdown.
NLC also said that it had plans to set up a floating solar system to generate electricity to run a water pump for lighting applications. According to the report, a 200 KW floating solar pilot project at the Neyveli New Thermal Power Station was installed. After successful trial runs and tests, power generation has also commenced.
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Renewable-Power-Generated-by-NLC-India-2014-2020.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-21466" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Renewable-Power-Generated-by-NLC-India-2014-2020.png" alt="Renewable Power Generated by NLC India (2014-2020)" width="519" height="157" srcset="https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Renewable-Power-Generated-by-NLC-India-2014-2020.png 519w, https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Renewable-Power-Generated-by-NLC-India-2014-2020-300x91.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 519px) 100vw, 519px" /></a>
Under the research and development (R&amp;D) initiatives undertaken at NLC, it has teamed up with the Institute for Energy Studies (IES) for lignite’s solar drying. Based on the outcome of the preliminary study, a pilot-scale study with a capacity of 1 ton/day was undertaken to study the feasibility. Lignite contains about 50-55% moisture, which is a constraint for transport to longer distances. A solar drying process has been developed on a pilot scale, and trials have been carried out. The calorific values of solar drying of Lignite have been increased from about 2700 Kcal/Kg to around 4600 Kcal/Kg. The trial run and characterization of the product are in progress.
According to <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/india-solar-project-tracker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mercom India Solar Project Tracker</a>, NLC India has nearly 1.37 GW of large-scale solar projects in operation.
NLC India <a href="https://mercomindia.com/renew-nlc-azure-top-utility-solar-developers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">emerged</a> as one of the top utility-scale solar project developers in India in terms of installed capacity in the calendar year (CY) 2019. Together, the top three developers accounted for nearly 35% of total large-scale installations in 2019.
In July 2020, NLC <a href="https://mercomindia.com/coal-india-nlc-india-mou-3gw-solar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">entered</a> an agreement with Coal India Limited, a Maharatna central public sector enterprise, to start a joint venture and develop solar and thermal power assets to the tune of 5 GW on a pan-India basis.
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Image credit: NLC India Ltd. / CC BY-<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SA</a>

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