MNRE plans raising RPO requirement to 10.5%

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is planning to raise the mandatory RPO requirement for the power distribution companies to 10.5 per cent under the proposed policy, an official said today.
The current renewable purchase obligation (RPO) requirement for the discoms stands at a meagre 3 per cent.
"It (RPO) is being revised from 3 per cent to 10.5 per cent for the solar sector," Secretary MNRE Upendra Tripathy told reporters here.
The RPO means the requirement specified by the electricity regulatory commission for the obligated entity to purchase power from renewable energy sources.
He added that the government is working on a renewable act or a policy, which is a must for attracting investment.

"As many as 60 countries in the world have renewable energy act, atleast we should have either then an act or a policy, the act is under examination, we have asked Shakti Foundation to help us and they are making the draft," Tripathy said on the sidelines of a Ficci event.

The MNRE may include penalties for non-compliance over and above the Power Ministry's proposal regarding the same in the the Electricity (Amendment) Act.
"Whatever is not there in the Electricity (Amendment) Act as far as renewable energy is concerned, how we can have more generation and how to make it more accesible to the states and how to have a common forum for this, stricter penalties etc," Tripathy said when asked about the salient features of the proposed renewable energy act.

He added that the idea is to find out problems facing the sector as there is a need to create an environment where investments can prevail.
The government has set an ambitious target of 1,00,000 MW of solar power capacity by the year 2020 from the current 2,800 MW and 10,000 MW wind capacity addition every year.