Cheap reliable power for Delhi soon: DERC

Delhi will soon get a five-year plan for its power sector aimed at reliable supply of power at reasonable rates.

Delhi will soon get a five-year plan for its power sector aimed at reliable supply of power at reasonable rates.

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The power regulator has asked the Central Electricity Authority to assist it in formulating it. The new plan will also factor in a revised performance standard for utilities, increasing the efficiency of services.

On Wednesday, the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission placed this before its State Advisory Committee (SAC) for further comments and inputs. Mandated by the Electricity Act, 2003, the SAC is formed with government officials, civil society activists and experts advising the commission on important matters.

"The report will take about four months to make. It will be a 'perspective plan' for the development of a robust and modern transmission and distribution network in Delhi," said PD Sudhakar, chairman, DERC.

In the future plan, the DERC wants solar energy to play a much bigger role as it is considering advising Delhi government in making it mandatory for every big institution - government or commercial - to use 60% of its building's rooftops to install solar energy panels.

The DERC may either limit or even stop the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates by discoms so that utilities procure actual green power and not just certificates. The discoms have a certain target of buying power from renewable sources. They often fulfil the target by simply buying certificates assuring the generation of such power.

In the new plan, discoms will be mandated to buy the entire solar power generated at the rooftops — a substantial amount. And since this power would be costlier than conventional sources, consumers using over 500 KW load may have to buy it as a percentage of total power bought. "In case Delhi does not have enough renewable energy for discoms to fulfil their clean energy obligations, DERC may allow buying of such power from solar generators within a 25 km radius of Delhi," said an official.

The SAC also discussed the benchmarking of cost of several works carried out and items purchased by discoms. The data will enable DERC in evaluating various proposals of works submitted by discoms for approval of expenditure.