Union
Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable energy and Mines, Shri Piyush
Goyal launched here
today the ‘MERIT app (Merit Order Despatch of Electricity for
Rejuvenation of Income and transparency)’ and the e–bidding portal for providing e–Bidding solution to States to select Independent Power Producers (IPPs) for procurement of power by transferring their domestic coal under the scheme of flexibility in utilization of
domestic coal.
Briefing the
media on the occasion, Shri Goyal said that both the initiatives are taken in
the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Minimum Government
and Maximum Governance’ through ‘Speed, Skill and Scale’. The app and the web
portal would result in optimum utilization of Coal which would save the
consumer close to Rs. 20,000 crores five years down the line, the Minister
added.
Shri Goyal
said that use of technology to increase transparency and accountability and
transfer maximum benefit to the consumer reflects a 360-degree approach of a
‘Government in Action’. The Government is dedicated to ensure access to
affordable, quality, 24×7 Power for All, in Prime Minister’s vision of New
India, the Minister added.
Over the last
three years, India has rapidly achieved adequacy in terms of availability of
power. Now the time has come to shift the focus to optimal utilization of the
valuable and scarce energy resources for achieving economy and efficiency in
operation. The merit order stack is a common approach to the problem of
minimizing the sum of generators’ operating costs while honoring the
operational constraints of the available generation to supply the demand in a
secure and reliable manner.
The Tariff
Policy, 2016 provides that the States/DISCOMs shall follow merit order for
procurement of power and there should be uniformity in merit order mechanism.
During the Power Ministers’ conference held at Vadodara in Oct, 2016, it was
decided to constitute a Committee to examine the status of implementation of
Merit Order Dispatch, issues involved therein and for ensuring proper dispatch
of renewable energy sources while following the merit order principle. Accordingly,
Merit Order Dispatch Committee was constituted in October 2016 with
Chairperson, Central Electricity Authority (CEA) as its Chairperson and Joint
Secretary (OM), Ministry of Power (MoP) as its Member Secretary. The Committee
had representation from MNRE, CERC, POSOCO and States. The Committee submitted
the report along with recommendations to MoP.
The
recommendations of the Committee have been prepared with regard to Transparency
in Merit Order operations and promotion of Renewables through effective implementation
of Must-Run status of Renewables. Most states follow merit order operation;
however, details in this regard need to be made transparently available. Hence,
there was a need to have a mechanism to quantify deviation from merit order and
check its reasonableness. The adherence to merit order optimizes the power
procurement cost and benefits both utility and ultimate consumer.
In this
direction, a web portal and mobile apps for Merit Order Despatch of Electricity
(MERIT) have been developed in association with POSOCO. The app displays
extensive array of information regarding the merit order such as daily
state-wise marginal variable costs of all generators, daily source-wise power
purchases of respective states/UTs with source-wise fixed and variable costs,
energy volumes and purchase prices. The app also gives information regarding
reasons for deviation from merit order such as must run conditions,
transmission constraints etc.
The
advantages of MERIT app are as follows:
·
Empowerment of the Consumer and participative
governance
·
Transparent information dissemination pertaining
to marginal variable cost and source wise purchase of electricity
·
Promotes economy and efficiency in operations
·
Helps understand the utility portfolio and its
complexity
·
Optimization of the power procurement costs
·
Facilitates renewable integration and handling
of the variability and uncertainty of renewables
·
Indication of supply side reliability, adequacy,
and co
·
The flexibility in utilization of domestic coal
scheme envisages transferring coal to more efficient IPPs generating stations,
leading to lower generation costs and ultimately lesser cost of electricity for
the consumers.
Today, the
Minister also launched the e–Bidding portal, which has been designed to facilitate States in inviting bids for procurement of power from the prospective IPPs in transparent
and fair manner. The successful
bidder shall be selected through e–Reverse Bidding process.
The Cabinet,
on 4th May
2016, approved the proposal for allowing flexibility in
utilization of domestic coal amongst power generating stations. Central Electricity
Authority (CEA) has issued the methodology for utilization of domestic coal within
State/Central generating stations
on 8th June
2016, followed by the issuance of a memorandum by the Ministry of Power on 10th June
2016. The
methodology for use of transferred coal in Independent Power Producers (IPPs) generating stations was issued by Ministry of Power on 20th February, 2017.
Ministry of
Power, along with PFC Consulting Ltd and MSTC Ltd, has developed the e–bidding portal. The link for portal is available on the website of Ministry of Power
and PFC Consulting Ltd. Other
dignitaries present on the occasion included Shri Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Secretary
Power and other senior officers of the Ministry of Power.
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RM/VM
