Power Exchanges start real-time electricity market with 48 auctions a day

Buyers can purchase electricity just an hour in advance; power generators can sell surplus anytime during the day

The country’s two power exchanges — Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and Power Exchange India (PXIL) — commenced real-time electricity market (RTM) on their platforms. RTM will help consumers purchase electricity just an hour in advance.

The RTM will have 48 auction sessions in a day, during which power generators with surplus capacity may sell anytime during the day.

In December 2019, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) approved the framework for RTM trading by power exchanges. Till now, the exchanges had day-ahead, week-ahead, and season-ahead markets, as well as renewable energy certificates trading.

In the maiden trading under RTM, the average price discovered at IEX’s platform was Rs 1.8 per unit for trading of 225 Mw.

The RTM is designed as a half-hourly market, comprising 48 auction sessions of 15 minutes each. The sessions will be conducted even in time blocks of an hour, with delivery commencing an hour after closure of the session, PXIL said in a statement.

The IEX said this trading model would benefit renewable energy generators the most. “With the fast-paced shift towards renewable energy, RTM will facilitate distribution utilities to manage the challenge of intermittency associated with renewables,” it said in a statement. 

The market will help utilities and system operators forecast and schedule green energy in an effective manner. “With the launch of RTM, the Indian energy markets are moving towards global standards of electricity trading, and establishing a new energy order. It will support utilities in reducing dependence on the grid deviation framework, to the order of 20 billion units, in FY20,” said Rajiv Srivastava, CEO and managing director of IEX.

PXIL said its platform also has the provision for generators who may have faced a forced outage, to purchase power and fulfil their contractual commitments. “RTM would be a game-changer in the electricity market as it, for the first time, allows generators with even long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) to participate in the vibrant power market of the country,’ said Prabhajit Kumar Sarkar, MD & CEO, PXIL.