Page 14 - AsiaElec Week 46 2022

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec

India set for 3.6 GW of green

open access capacity in 2023

INDIA INDIA could add a record 3.6 GW of open (COVID-19) pandemic.
access renewable capacity in 2023 as industrial Tailwinds such as the growing need for reduc-
consumers look to lower electricity costs and tion in operational expense (OPEX), renewable
meet sustainability goals. purchase obligation (RPO) and decarbonisation
Researchers JMK in India said that growth targets of C&I consumers enabled the RE open
in the country’s open access market should con- access segment to beat the slowdown in market
tinue to recover in 2023 following a lull in devel- activity.
opment in 2019 and 2020. In 2022, the annual capacity addition of 1.89
The country’s open access green market has GW was 1.5 times more than the previous year.
grown from around 300 MW in 2009 to 10 GW Considering the open access projects under con-
at present, with approximately two-thirds of this struction, India may add a further 3.6 GW in
total going online between 2018 and 2022. 2023, which could potentially be a record-high
The open access market has witnessed robust annual installation.
annual capacity additions since 2017, with the Based on green open access capacity installed
best year being 2018 with 2,894 MW. The prime during 2018-2022, the top five states are Karna-
driver for the capacity boom was the highly taka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat and
favourable policy of Karnataka State, under Andhra Pradesh. These five states contributed
which 10-year tax exemptions were offered all 83% of India’s RE open access capacity addition
open access for projects commissioned until during the same period.
2018. India’s new Green Energy Open Access Rules
However, the expiry of Karnataka’s incen- 2022 opened up the open access market to any
tives for open access solar installations severely consumer with load limit of 100 kW (reduced
dampened the growth of the entire open access from 1 MW) or above. This provided a signifi-
market. In 2019, green open access installations cant boost to developers’ growth prospects.
in India fell by 75% year on year. In 2019, some Meanwhile, on November 22 the government
states, including Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, launched the Green Energy Open Access portal,
Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, which assured any eligible consumer an open
either withdrew their open access benefits or did access grant within 15 days.
not extend the effective implementation period. In addition to the lowering of the load limit,
These actions, or inactions in terms of state the new rules specify provisions for month-long
policy and regulation, stagnated the growth of energy banking, the uniform renewable pur-
the RE open access market in 2020. The lowest chase obligation (RPO) and also bring clarity to
annual installation in the last six fiscal years was applicability of open access charges.
in 2020. All these factors combined indicate a robust
Capacity addition in 2021 was substan- long-term growth in the future of RE open access
tially higher as compared to the previous year, in the country, JMK said.™
despite the adverse effects of the coronavirus

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 46 15•November•2022