Green certificates sale down 58% at 4.01 lakh in January

Sale of renewable energy certificates (RECs) declined by 58 per cent to 4.01 lakh in January from 9.60 lakh recorded in December 2015.
Renewable Energy Purchase Obligation (RPO) is an obligation mandated by central/state regulatory commission and applicable to power distribution companies, open access consumer and captive consumers. They are under obligation to buy RECs from renewable energy producers to meet this norm.
Two power exchanges -- Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and Power Exchange India Limited (PXIL), approved by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission -- hold auction of RECs on the last Wednesday of every month.
"A total of 2,05,192 RECs were traded in the REC Market session on January 27, 2016 held at IEX. Out of this, 1,64,004 were N-Solar and 41,188 were Solar RECs," an IEX statement said.

"The trade this month saw a major decrease in traded volumes over the previous month when a total of 8,65,675 RECs were traded. Moreover, the volume traded this month decreased by over 50 per cent as compared to January 2015 session when 4,23,731 RECs were traded," it stated.
The PXIL said, "The total cleared volume on the exchange was 1,96,747 RECs that led to PXIL having a Market Share of 48.95 per cent. In this month clearing ratio was 3.03 per cent due to low demand side participation."

"During this trading session, the prices in the solar and non-solar categories have remained at the floor level. Prior to today's auction more than 1.74 Crore RECs were available in the market for trade; however the traded volume is low on account of non-fulfillment of RPO compliance by major utilities," it added.

However the exchange express hope for uptick in sales and said, "The traded volumes are expected to increase in the remaining two months of the year as many obligated entities would start purchasing REC's to meet their RPO targets."
In December, IEX recorded sale of 8,65,675 RECs while PXIL witnessed sale of 94,366 RECs.