India’s Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) released on Monday a new notification, introducing the idea of multiplier for renewable energy certificates (RECs) for new projects depending on the tariff range of various renewable technologies, which is expected to help boost adoption of new and costly technologies.
Renewable energy certificate multiplier is a scheme designed to award more than one REC for electricity produced by certain renewable technologies.
The certificate multiplier awarded to renewable technologies will be valid for 15 years from the project’s commission date, according to the CERC’s notification. For the next three years after the regulation goes into effect, the commission has allocated a certificate multiplier value of 1 for on-shore and off-shore wind projects, while Hydro has been assigned a value of 1.5.
The commission has assigned it a value of 2 to encourage the development and usage of new technologies for municipal solid waste (MSW) and non-fossil fuel-based co-generation. Furthermore, biomass and bio-fuel projects have been granted the highest certificate multiplier of 2.5, indicating the regulator’s intention to provide maximal incentives to this technology.
The CERC stated in a statement released on Monday that each REC issued under these regulations should represent one megawatt hour of electricity generated from renewable sources and injected or presumed to be injected into the grid.
Any renewable energy generator whose tariff has not been decided under Sections 62 or 63 of the Electricity Act or who has not sold electricity directly or through traders is eligible for RECs, said the notification.
Captive generating stations based on renewable sources will be eligible for REC in addition to self-consumption. Distribution companies or open access consumers will also be eligible to the extent that their renewable procurement exceeds their renewable purchase obligation (RPO), as determined by the respective State Commission.
The CERC launched REC in the Indian power industry in January 2010, aiming to solve the mismatch between the availability of renewable energy sources and the obligation of obliged entities to meet their RPO.
