NTPC trades surplus power from its 4 stations

Other PSUs may soon join the bandwagon

State-run NTPC, for the first time, has traded in un-requisitioned surplus (URS) power from four of its prominent thermal generating stations— Vidhyanchal, Unchahar, Rihand and Dadri Power —at the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX). The trading took place as per the amendments to the National Tariff Policy carried out in January 2016.

During June 4 and 12, NTPC’s bid volume was of the order of 30,499 Mwhr, of which 2,743 Mwhr was cleared at the IEX. The market clearing price was ranging between Rs 1.91 per unit and Rs 2.64 per unit.

The central generating stations are scheduled on a day-ahead basis. Usually, generating stations offering cheaper power are fully scheduled by states. In case the state does not wish to utilise the power, the power remains un-requisitioned and unsold.

IEX managing director SN Goel told Business Standard, “Sale of URS power on the exchange is a welcome and win-win idea for the buyers as well as for the sellers. As demand increases, we expect greater volume of URS power to get cleared through the power exchange platform, which will help buyers meet their demand and sellers get market price for the power sold. Further, sale of URS Power will lead to optimum utilisation of generation capacity of NTPC.”

According to the analysts, other central generating companies like NHPC, Neyveli Lignite may participate in the market to sell their URS, creating a new opportunity for the markets.