REFF conference Mumbai 20th November and 21st November.
The global financial crisis has not dented the interest in Renewable Energy in India, as that was quite evident from the presence of participants from various geographies, various fields and with special interest to participate in various capacities (debt, equity, CDM off taker, Developer) etc.
Day one’s highlight was presence of Dr Pramod Deo, Chairman, CERC who is considered to be one of the evangelists, about Renewable Energy. During his leadership at MERC, Maharashtra came out with one of the most supportive RE Policy specifically for Wind Power which resulted in addition of over 1000 MW in wind power in last 3-4 years. He himself remembered those days and the kind of opposition the policy had to face when the policy was christened. But in the hindsight not only he is happy but also proved his opponent that he was correct. Economic times of 21st November, refers to hike in power tariff for Mumbaikars by over 1 Rupee per Unit. As I remember, my electricity bill from Reliance Energy Limited already quotes around 3 to 3.5 Rupees per Unit which I believe will soon touch the 5 Rupees tariff against which the Wind Power Tariff is 3.5 Rupees per Unit which is so called Feed in Tariff or preferential tariff. I think message from Pramod Deo was quite clear, support RE by giving policy which supports its growth which will ensure the Energy Security in longer term.
Also on the day one there was important discussion on Generation Based Incentive (GBI) by none other than Debashish Majumdar, CMD, IREDA, the nodal agency under MNRE for the said scheme, which is said to be first step in direction to incentivize the Generation based RE Power in country against the Depreciation based capital investment in RE. Although when the questions came about the applicability of GBI, its extension, air was not clear. One thing that was made clear was that the first 49 MW quota is already exhausted. About the extension, IREDA, CMD stated that it has already been submitted for further discussion and the decision is expected to be out with in one or two month. He also hinted that proposal is to extend GBI up to 2010-2011 year instead of having outer limit of MW. Frankly I believe the second phase of wind power has to come from IPP (Independent Power Producer) and GBI, REC instruments are going to play major role for the same.
Second days highlight was the introduction of Renewable Energy Certificates by Balwant Joshi, Managing Partner, ABPS Infrastructure. Definitely there are some last minute hurdles that needs to be sorted out to pave the way for such revolutionary (although this small cousin of CER (written from right to left REC)) and hopefully the concept will see the light of the day may be in coming days during the first budget of new (or congress) government.
Further on the second day a developer’s voice was also interesting to note. Mr. Mahesh Makhija, Vice President, Renewables, CLP India gave a true picture how and why the wind power market in India is developing in very balanced manner. Probably he still is loyal to his old manufacturer’s day as he lightly discussed during the networking session. The important aspect that he touched upon was the non inclusion of Cost associated with development of Power Evacuation for the new wind farms that were getting developed which usually do not get captured in the Modest Per Mw cost that goes in Tariff determination by various SERCs.
The global financial crisis has not dented the interest in Renewable Energy in India, as that was quite evident from the presence of participants from various geographies, various fields and with special interest to participate in various capacities (debt, equity, CDM off taker, Developer) etc.
Day one’s highlight was presence of Dr Pramod Deo, Chairman, CERC who is considered to be one of the evangelists, about Renewable Energy. During his leadership at MERC, Maharashtra came out with one of the most supportive RE Policy specifically for Wind Power which resulted in addition of over 1000 MW in wind power in last 3-4 years. He himself remembered those days and the kind of opposition the policy had to face when the policy was christened. But in the hindsight not only he is happy but also proved his opponent that he was correct. Economic times of 21st November, refers to hike in power tariff for Mumbaikars by over 1 Rupee per Unit. As I remember, my electricity bill from Reliance Energy Limited already quotes around 3 to 3.5 Rupees per Unit which I believe will soon touch the 5 Rupees tariff against which the Wind Power Tariff is 3.5 Rupees per Unit which is so called Feed in Tariff or preferential tariff. I think message from Pramod Deo was quite clear, support RE by giving policy which supports its growth which will ensure the Energy Security in longer term.
Also on the day one there was important discussion on Generation Based Incentive (GBI) by none other than Debashish Majumdar, CMD, IREDA, the nodal agency under MNRE for the said scheme, which is said to be first step in direction to incentivize the Generation based RE Power in country against the Depreciation based capital investment in RE. Although when the questions came about the applicability of GBI, its extension, air was not clear. One thing that was made clear was that the first 49 MW quota is already exhausted. About the extension, IREDA, CMD stated that it has already been submitted for further discussion and the decision is expected to be out with in one or two month. He also hinted that proposal is to extend GBI up to 2010-2011 year instead of having outer limit of MW. Frankly I believe the second phase of wind power has to come from IPP (Independent Power Producer) and GBI, REC instruments are going to play major role for the same.
Second days highlight was the introduction of Renewable Energy Certificates by Balwant Joshi, Managing Partner, ABPS Infrastructure. Definitely there are some last minute hurdles that needs to be sorted out to pave the way for such revolutionary (although this small cousin of CER (written from right to left REC)) and hopefully the concept will see the light of the day may be in coming days during the first budget of new (or congress) government.
Further on the second day a developer’s voice was also interesting to note. Mr. Mahesh Makhija, Vice President, Renewables, CLP India gave a true picture how and why the wind power market in India is developing in very balanced manner. Probably he still is loyal to his old manufacturer’s day as he lightly discussed during the networking session. The important aspect that he touched upon was the non inclusion of Cost associated with development of Power Evacuation for the new wind farms that were getting developed which usually do not get captured in the Modest Per Mw cost that goes in Tariff determination by various SERCs.
OPEN ACCESS:
the other important discussion that hog the limelight of abscence of implementation of Open Access in letter and spirit.
Changing face of Wind Power in India
Most of the discussion in the two days conference was concentrated on dissecting the past and the way wind power industry got developed in India with support of Tax incentive (Well it was also said that instead of paying tax, a tax payer can invest 30 % as equity in wind power and rest debt finance). But then question arise was this something that has happened first time in the world? Isn’t it similar to the likes of benefits/subsidy given by various governments around the world to promote various industries, leave apart Renewable (wind) energy? Had it not been these benefits could India would have been on the map of Wind Power as it is today? The famous remark doing round was : though it is being said that “Glass is half filled but had it not been the Suzlon or Enercon there would have been the Glass at all”.
What about future: Definitely future lies in IPP going forward and this is well established without any doubt. Today, Suzlon has got a special team which focuses primarily on IPP with special focus on Investments from International Investors. The IPP team not only discuss Energy Yield Assessment but host of aspects such as Operation & Maintenance, Health Safety Society and Environment (HSSE), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), independent third party wind resource assessment , Garrad Hassan (GH) verification, Wind Sector Management, Power Evacuation (PE) etc which were un heard of in last few years. Things are changing. Things are changing fast.
Sites with installation of above 50 MW will be a reality. In fact there are plans to have wind power complexes with 1000MW at single location. Probably this is the new face of wind power, new face of Suzlon.
Views expressed are strictly personal and are of writer himself and not of the organization he belongs to.
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