The Jharkhand State Electricity Regulatory Commission recently granted permission to the Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam (JBVNL) to obtain 100 MW of electricity from a floating solar company that will be established at the Getalsud dam in Ranchi. This step is aimed at meeting JBVNL's sustainable purchase obligation (RPO). The committee has determined that JBVNL must secure power from this project at a maximum rate of Rs 3.50 ($0.042) per kWh or lower. In addition, the commission has instructed the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to petition for pricing once the project is commissioned.
JBVNL and SECI had previously jointly petitioned to seek approval for a preliminary power purchase agreement (PPA) to acquire 100 MW of electricity from the floating solar project. In terms of background, for the 2020-21 financial year, the RPO target for solar energy was set at 6.55%, but JBVNL could only reach 32.44 MUs out of the targeted 798.20 MUs. In the subsequent financial year 2021-2022, the solar RPO target was increased to 10.5%, but JBVNL managed only 128.90 MUs against the target of 1,317.83 MUs. The committee had instructed JBVNL to strictly adhere to the RPO requirements in the future.
JBVNL stressed that the next 700 MW of solar projects, for which they had entered into PPAs with SECI, would contribute significantly to achieving their RPO targets, starting with the FY 2022-23. In addition, JBVNL had already signed a power sales agreement with SECI to purchase 700 MW of solar energy from various solar energy developers, of which 315 MW has been in operation since January 2022. SECI and JBVNL also entered into an agreement for this project and on 9 November 2021, a tripartite water lease agreement was executed between the Water Resources Department of the Government of Jharkhand, JBVNL and SECI.
In its analysis, the committee noted that the preliminary PPA was designed to help JFFNL achieve its RPO target as imposed by the Commission through the renewable energy purchase obligation and its 2016 compliance regulation. Consequently, the commission approved the purchase of 100 MW of electricity from the floating solar project with a maximum speed of Rs 3.50 per kWh or lower. It is worth noting that in September of the previous year, JSERC had already authorized JBVNL to acquire 700 MW of interstate transmission system-connected solar power from SECI to fulfill its RPO.