The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has green signaled the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) to launch a Green Term-Ahead Market (GTAM) on its platform which will allow the latter to allow trading of renewable energy and help buyers meet their renewable purchase obligations (RPO).
The IEX says the GTAM will support seamless integration of renewable energy by supporting generators of clean energy and distribution utilities in trading through the market platform. "The new market segment will support states with surplus renewables to sell while the buyers will be able to procure energy as well as meet the renewable purchase obligations," it stated.
In December 2016, the IEX invited suggestions for trading renewable energy contracts in the day-ahead market (see IEX Seeks Comments For Solar Day-Ahead Market). India seeks to have 450 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.
Commercial and industrial solar service provider Amplus Solar says it sold electricity on the open market on August 20, 2020 and has become the 'first' solar generator to trade on GTAM. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Petronas Holding of Malaysia.
The MD and CEO of Amplus Solar, Sanjeev Aggarwal calls it a great opportunity for renewable energy to be traded on the open electricity market. He explains, "Traditionally, there has been no segregation between thermal and renewable power sale in the exchange market, making it difficult for buyers interested only in renewable energy. With the introduction of this GTAM, such buyers can now fulfil their green energy needs through these open markets."
He also added that allowing this source-based differentiation enables transparent price discovery of electricity based on its source of generation. Until now, both renewable energy (solar or wind) and thermal were being sold at the same price in the open market, despite being produced at different costs.