BHUBANESWAR : After failing to meet the Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) in the last five years, the Grid Corporation of Odisha Limited (Gridco), the bulk supplier of electricity to the State, is confident to achieve the target during the current financial year.
As per the RPO regulations of Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC), notified on February 15, 2022, Gridco is mandated for compliance of RPO to the level of 14.5 per cent in 2022-23. This will be gradually increased to 18 per cent for 2024-25.
Under RPO, Gridco is obligated to purchase 3312.22 million unit (MU) of energy out of its total sale of 29,560 MU for consumption in the State excluding 7084.10 MU to be sourced from large hydro power stations. To achieve RPO compliance, Gridco has planned to procure 1512.22 MU from non-solar sources such small hydro electric project (456.35 MU), 975.87 MU from wind energy and 80 MU from bio-mass energy.
“The State power trading utility has signed agreement to purchase about 200 MW ground mounted solar power at the rate of Rs 3.08 per unit through PM-KUSUM scheme of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), 20 MW of solar power (2 X 10MW each) from solar PV projects for the Konark solar city and Bhubaneswar enewable Energy City,” said Gridco Managing Director Trilochan Panda.
This apart, 20 MW of solar power (5 MW each for 4 discoms) through Roof Top Solar Scheme-II of MNRE, 10 MW from solar PV project at Chiplima through Green Energy Development Corporation of Odisha Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Odisha Hydro Power Corporation.
In 2021-22, Odisha has been able to comply 98 per cent of the RPO prescribed by OERC. The State stands sixth in the country in terms of RPO compliance, he added. In order to meet the target of the Central government to bring down the non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030, which required proportional contribution from each of the states, Gridco has planned to meet RPO up to a level of 30 per cent of its total consumption by 2030. Gridco is also planning to provide green energy to the industries in the State for their RPO compliance, Panda said.