The Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (JERC) decision for selling of solar power to UT Electricity Department at low tariff of Rs1.13 per unit has not gone down well with the UT Department of Science and Technology.
Disgruntled over JERC’s decision, the UT Department of Science and Technology has shot off a letter to Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, urging to intervene in the issue. The JERC had recently approved the selling of solar power to the UT Electricity Department at the rate of Rs1.13 per unit, as against Rs8.75 per unit which the Chandigarh Renewable Energy Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST) had demanded in a petition filed on behalf of the UT Department of Science and Technology.
CREST, under the aegis of UT Department of Science and Technology was established for the promotion of renewable energy programme in the city.The JERC decision is seen as a major setback to CREST’s plan for promoting solar energy and roping in private sector for the green initiatives in Chandigarh.
In a strongly worded letter to the MNRE, the UT Department of Science and Technology has stated that JERC’s decision will jeopardise the ambitious model solar city programme of Chandigarh and has requested the Union Ministry to intervene in the matter. A meeting to discuss forests and solar projects of Chandigarh has been convened by the MNRE on Wednesday.
While talking to The Pioneer, Santosh Kumar, Director UT Department of Science and Technology and CEO CREST said, “We have written a letter to MNRE and have requested them to look into the issue otherwise the JERC decision will badly affect the solar power projects in the union territory.A letter addressed to Tarun Kapoor, Joint Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has been sent by the UT Department.Santosh said, “The MNRE has convened a meeting on Wednesday and the issue of low tariff fixed by JERC would also be discussed. The CREST will also file an appeal against JERC decision.”
“The JERC decision will jeopardise the future of solar power projects in Chandigarh. The Commission has not considered any capital cost for the purpose of calculation of return on equity, depreciation, and interest on loan capital for the purpose of tariff determination. Hence the tariff is fixed at low rate of Rs1.13 only,” added he.
In its petition filed last year with the Commission, the CREST had sought permission from JERC to sell power to the UT Electricity Department at Rs8.75 per unit. In past two years, the CREST has installed solar photovoltaic (SPV) power plants on Government buildings which,together, have a capacity of producing 2,790 KWp electricity.
These government buildings included Model Central Burail Jail in Sector 45, Paryavaran Bhawan in Sector 19, Government Model Senior Secondary School in Sector 46, Government College of Commerce and Business Administration in Sector 42, GCG-Sector 11 among other places.
The aim of installation of these SPV power plants is to produce electricity that could be put to use in the buildings, thus cutting down on the power bills. Interactive solar voltage power plant (GISVPP) has been installed in the government buildings so as to transfer the extra power supply to the main grid system of Chandigarh.
The JERC orders stated, “In financial year 2013-14, the Electricity Department is required to purchase 0.4 percent of the total consumption of all the consumers in its area during a year from solar energy sources. 0.6 percent of the total consumption of all the consumers in its area during a year from solar energy in FY 2014-15, which shall go up to 3 percent by FY 2021-22.”
“Ideally, grid interactive systems do not require battery back-up as the grid acts as the back-up for feeding excess solar power and vice-versa. However, to enhance the performance reliability of the overall systems, a minimum battery-back of one hour of load capacity is strongly recommended,” stated the Commission.