The Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (KSERC) is holding the second public hearing on the draft KSERC Renewable Energy and Net Metering (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2024, on Wednesday.
The draft contains changes in line with the revised Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) trajectory set by the Union government for meeting the national-level target of 500 gigawatts (GW) of non-fossil fuel-based energy capacity by 2030.
Up to 2029-30
The hearing will begin at the Institution of Engineers Hall at Vellayambalam at 11 a.m. For achieving 500 GW target, the Ministry of Power had announced the RPO trajectory for the period up to 2029-30. In it, the Ministry has introduced wind RPO, specifying that it should be met only through energy produced from wind power projects commissioned after March 31, 2022.
The solar RPO has been merged with ‘other RPO.’ The KSERC draft regulation has, among other things, provisions for accommodating the anticipated increase in penetration of renewable energy into the grid in the days ahead.
Meanwhile, the commission clarified that neither the draft regulation nor Wednesday’s hearing deals with billing systems applicable to solar ‘prosumers’ in Kerala. The commission had held the first hearing on the draft regulation on March 20. The second hearing is for stakeholders who could not attend it.
