Odisha wants CPPs of steel projects to fulfill renewable obligation

Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission has fixed RPO at 5.5% for 2012-13 and 6% for 2013-14

The Odisha energy department has pitched for inclusion of steel players with captive generating plants (CGPs) to fulfill renewable energy obligation (RPO), in the National Steel Policy-2012 which is under finalization.

Under RPO, every obligated entity has to purchase not less than five% of its total annual energy consumption of energy from co-generation and renewable energy sources with 0.5% increase every year till 2015.

Accordingly, state power regulator Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) has fixed RPO at 5.5% for 2012-13 and 6% for 2013-14.

"The steel plants including their captive power plants shall have to fulfill the RPO for states which is in sync with the provision of Indian Electricity Act-2003, Tariff Policy-2006 and the direction of the state electricity regulatory commissions”, P K Jena, secretary (energy) stated in a letter to Rajesh Verma, principal secretary (steel & mines)-Odisha.

The state energy department wants this condition to be incorporated in the National Steel Policy.

The state government had entered into MoUs (memorandum of understanding) with 49 steel companies who had also proposed captive generating plants (CGPs) at the sites of their steel making facilities.

The 30 steel players that have commenced either partial or full scale production achieving steel making capacity of 12.66 million tonne per annum, had also achieved CGP capacity of 1,517 MW. Steel makers with operational CGPs like Arati Steel and Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) were already supplying power to the state grid.

It may be noted that the draft National Steel Policy-2012 aims at transforming the Indian steel industry into a global leader in terms of production, consumption, quality and techno-economic efficiency while achieving economic, environmental and social sustainability.

The main objective of the steel policy is to attract investments in the Indian steel sector from both domestic and foreign sources so as to reach crude steel capacity level of 300 million tonne per annum by 2025-26. It also aims at ensuring easy availability of vital inputs and necessary infrastructure to achieve the desired production level.

The policy also strives to develop indigenous capabilities of design, engineering and manufacturing of critical capital equipments required for steel production.