Govt issues guidelines for advance procurement of resources by discoms

The government on Wednesday issued guidelines for advance procurement of resources by discoms to meet the electricity demand in a cost-effective manner.

The guidelines, issued by the Union Ministry of Power, have been framed under rule 16 of Electricity (Amendment) Rules 2022, which were notified on December 29, 2022.

The "Guidelines for Resource Adequacy Planning Framework for India" has been issued in consultation with the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the power ministry said in a statement.

"The guidelines will ensure that sufficient electricity is made available to power the country's growth, by putting in place a framework for advance procurement of resources by discoms to meet the electricity demand in a cost-effective manner.

"They provide for an institutional mechanism for resource adequacy ranging from the national level to discom level such that the availability of resources to meet the demand is ensured at each level," it said.

As per the guidelines, the new generation capacities, energy storage and other flexible resources, needed to reliably meet future demand growth at optimal cost, will be assessed well in advance.

The guidelines also suggest a share of at least 75 per cent of long-term contracts in a total capacity required by discoms as per the long-term national resource adequacy plan (LT-NRAP) or as specified by respective SERC.

The mediumterm contracts are suggested to be in the range of 10-20 per cent, while the rest of the power demand can be met through short-term contracts.

The National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC) will also carry out bids to procure any shortfall in the capacity required to meet the short-term Distribution Resource Adequacy Plans (ST-DRAP), after aggregating the individual plans of discoms.

The guidelines also provide for the number of years before which the procurement process by discoms must be completed, so that the procured capacity becomes available when it is required to serve the projected load.

"The guidelines are a major reform to provide consumers 24 x 7 reliable power supply at optimised electricity tariffs. The time-bound and scientific approach to assess the electricity demand for the future and taking necessary actions to procure resources in advance to meet this demand will ensure that the practice of load shedding by discoms and the occurrence of electricity supply crunch periods is avoided in future," Power, New and Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh said.