Power Ministry issues revised guidelines for thermal generation companies to set up renewable energy generation capacity

New Delhi: Ministry of Power has issued revised guidelines providing for thermal generation companies to set up renewable energy generation capacity. It can be developed  either by these companies   through developers by open bids and supplying it to the consumers under the existing Power Purchasing Agreements, PPAs.

This will enable the replacement of fossil fuel based energy by renewable energy under the existing PPAs. As the cost of renewable energy is less than the cost of Thermal energy, the gains from the bundling of renewable energy with thermal will be shared between the



generator and Distribution companies or other procurers on a 50:50 basis.

As the renewable energy will be balanced with thermal energy, therefore, the DISCOMs will now not need to acquire any separate capacity for balancing of renewable energy. Ministry of Power in a statement said that this is a very significant step towards achieving the goal of 500 Giga Watt  of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030.

The distribution companies will be able to count the renewable energy supplied under the scheme towards their renewable purchase obligation.