GUVNL to procure 7,000MW of renewable power by 2022

Ahmedabad: With the target of power purchase from renewable energy sources set to increase every year, state-run Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) has chalked out plans to procure 7,000MW of solar and wind power by fiscal 2021-22, to meet renewable purchase obligations (RPO).
RPO is the minimum percentage of total power that electricity distribution companies and large power consumers need to buy from renewable energy (RE) sources. Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) has set the wind and solar RPO target at around 10% for fiscal 2017-18. To promote the renewable energy sector, the RPO is set to be increased to 16% by 2021-22. The final RPO regulations, however, are yet to be notified.

Sources in GUVNL confirmed that the state power utility will need to procure more power in the years to come to reach its RPO target. According to the tentative RE power capacity addition plan on GUVNL’s website, it proposes to procure 5,500MW from solar and 1,500MW from wind power projects over the next four years. Considering the need to purchase more power from renewable sources, GUVNL last year completed competitive bidding to source 500MW each from wind and solar power plants and signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) in Oct 2 17 and January 2018, respectively. In the second phase of power procurement, the company last month floated two separate tenders for 1,000MW each from wind and solar power projects through competitive bidding. Distribution companies affiliated with GUVNL failed to meet the RPO of 10% set by GERC for the 2016-17 fiscal. The renewable power purchases by the four discoms fell short by 1,026 million units.