Direct subsidy for Hydrogen-Offshore Wind necessary, says Chaturvedi
The growth of renewable energy (RE) sector is inextricably linked to the country achieving Net-Zero goal by 2070, and thus has been identified as a strategic sector for self-reliance, according to Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
Addressing the CII conference on 14 July 2022, he informed that the MNRE is considering changes in the bidding structure of the wind energy sector to enable greater capacity addition, a long-standing demand of the industry.
“The e-reverse auction arrangement has in principle been decided to be ended and a forward decision will follow soon,” Chaturvedi told the conference ‘India @ 2030: A Roadmap for AatmaNirbhar Bharat in RE’.
“In the renewable energy sector, the mechanism of e-reverse auctions has been used largely to discover the lowest tariff, resulting in historically low-bids.
“The commissioning and deployments of projects got adversely affected in many cases, and developers faced ‘the winner’s curse’ as import prices of components soared, and in some cases, bids had to be revised upwards.”
Public policy support will continue for the RE sector, and institutional streamlining between different fragments of the electricity sector, Ministry of Power, MNRE, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), state regulators and the distribution companies will be attempted.
“MNRE has already started work in this regard,” said Chaturvedi, adding that direct subsidy will be necessary in new and upcoming areas like Hydrogen Mission and Offshore-Wind among others. fiinews.com
