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NEW DELHI : Centre has decided to end the arrangement of electronic reverse auctions for renewable energy, said a senior official on Thursday.
Speaking at a CII conference on the roadmap to achieve self-sufficiency in renewable energy, Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi, secretary for the union ministry new and renewable energy said that the order in this regard is expected to be issued soon.
“The e-reverse auction arrangement for price discovery has in principle been decided to be ended. The orders for this will follow soon," he said.
In the renewable energy sector, the mechanism of e-reverse auctions has been used largely to discover the lowest tariff, resulting in historically low-bids. According to industry experts, the commissioning and deployments of projects got adversely affected in many cases, and developers faced ‘the winner’s curse’ as import prices of components soared, and in some cases, bids had to be revised upwards.
The decision comes in the backdrop of India’s plans to achieve 500 GW of renewable energy by 2050 and reach carbon neutrality by 2070.
The growth of renewable energy sector is inextricably linked to the country achieving net zero goal by 2070, and thus has been identified as a strategic sector for self-reliance, Chaturvedi added.
Noting that continuation of policy support is required, he said that Centre would continue to provide policy support to the sunrise sector.
The secretary also stressed on the need for streamlining of the institutions in the segment --ministry of power, MNRE, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), state regulators and distribution companies -- to achieve better coordination.
“MNRE has already started work in this regard," he said.
He also said that incentives like direct subsidy would be required in sectors like hydrogen and offshore wind which are in a nascent stage in India.
Talking of the green hydrogen mission, he said that comprehensive mission is in its final stages and is in the “highest stages of approval" and is likely to be launched in the next couple of months. The national green hydrogen policy was released in February this year.
The official noted that progress in addition of rooftop solar capacity has been sluggish and a new portal for rooftop solar is expected to be launched in the next fortnight.
India’s total installed power capacity is 403.7 GW out of which renewable energy accounts for 114 GW.