Renewable Certificate Sales Fall 2.25% in October, Down to 6.87 Lakh

Sales of renewable energy certificates dipped 2.25 percent to 6.87 lakh units in October as compared to 7.03 lakh in the same month a year ago

Sales of renewable energy certificates (REC) dipped 2.25 percent to 6.87 lakh units in October as compared to 7.03 lakh in the same month a year ago due to lower supply, according to official data.

Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and Power Exchange of India (PXIL) are the two power bourses in the country which are engaged in trading of renewable energy certificates (RECs) and electricity. The trading of RECs is conducted on the last Wednesday of every month.

According to official data, IEX saw a total trade of 4.48 lakh RECs in October as compared to 4.25 lakh in the same month last year. Similarly, PXIL recorded the sale of 2.38 lakh RECs in the month as compared to 2.77 lakh in October 2018.

IEX data showed that both non-solar and solar RECs continued to see low supply situation, with buy bids exceeding sell bids due to low inventory. There were buy bids for 13.88 lakh RECs against sell bids for 5.75 lakh RECs for the month of October at IEX.

Similarly, there were buy bids for 5.37 lakh RECs and sell bids for 2.6 lakh units for the month of October at PXIL. Under the renewable purchase obligation (RPO), bulk purchasers like discoms, open access consumers and capacitive users are required to buy a certain proportion of RECs. They can buy RECs from renewable energy producers to meet the RPO norms. The proportion of renewable energy for utilities is fixed by the central and state electricity regulatory commissions.

Earlier this month, we reported that the average spot power price at IEX had dropped 54 percent to a two-year low of Rs 2.71 per unit in October, compared to Rs 5.94 per unit in the same month last year. With the key reason for the notable decline credited to the lower electricity demand, better coal supplies and higher hydro generation. And that the price for Non-Solar RECs (Issued after April 1, 2017) at Rs 1,650 increased 10 percent from Rs 1,500 in September 2019 and the price for Solar RECs at Rs 2,400 increased 7 percent in October 2019 from Rs 2,250 in September 2019. The increase in REC prices has mainly been due to shortfall on the REC inventory and has been continuing since March 2019, it added.