Electricity Market at IEX Records All-time High Volume of 8248.52 MU in March 2021

The electricity market at IEX achieved an all-time high volume of 8248.52 MU in the month of March 2021

Spurred by the increasing demand for electricity across the various States, the electricity market at Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) achieved an all-time high volume of 8248.52 MU in the month of March 2021 surpassing all the previous milestones. 

The robust volumes led to a 92 percent YoY growth in electricity market during the month. According to the power demand data published by the National Load Dispatch Center (NLDC), the national peak power demand touched 186 GW seeing a 9 percent YoY growth while the power consumption grew 23 percent YoY. The market faced transmission congestion on the inter-state transmission network due to which 24 MU was lost during the month, representing 0.03 percent of total traded volume.

For the fiscal year 2021, IEX reported that the Exchange Market performed spectacularly well despite the COVID-19 induced lockdown which resulted in a significant reduction in the demand for electricity in the country in the first two quarters of the year. 

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The electricity market achieved an all-time high volume of 73,941 MU during the year leading to 37.2 percent YoY growth. The new market segments introduced during the fiscal year 2021 – the real-time market, as well as the green market, made 14 percent contribution to the volume traded during the year. As per the NLDC data for the fiscal year 2021, the national peak demand for electricity at 190 GW saw 3.5 percent growth while electricity consumption at 1,281 BU was down 0.6% YoY.

Green Term-Ahead Market (GTAM)

The IEX had launched the Green Term-Ahead Market (GTAM) on its power trading platform on August 21, 2020, after receiving approval from the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) through an order dated August 17, 2020. The market offers trade in four types of green term-ahead contracts a. Green Intra-day contracts, b. Day-ahead Contingency contracts, c. Daily Contracts and d. Weekly contracts.

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As per the IEX numbers, 

• the GTAM traded a volume of 51 MU during the month comprising of 21 MU in the solar segment and 30 MU in the non-solar segment. 
• Further, a total of 24 participants participated during the month with distribution utilities from Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, New Delhi, Karnataka, Telangana, and Maharashtra among others as the key participants. 
• IEX also revealed that to date, the market has cumulatively traded 786 MU volume since its launch in August 2020.

The market has been enabling distribution utilities, industrial consumers, and green generators to buy and sell green power while also supporting them in fulfilling their Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) targets in the most competitive way. 

Elsewhere, in the controversial Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) segment, the trading session which was scheduled on March 31, 2021, did not take place due to the stay order from APTEL in response to the petitions filed by a few Renewable Energy Associations against the CERC order dated June 2020 regarding revision in the floor and forbearance prices of REC. 

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However, during the fiscal year prior to June 2020 – when the trading was closed – the REC market cumulatively traded a 6.97 lakh green certificates.