The government has put forth the draft National Renewable Energy Act 2015 for public consultation. It has made an exhaustive classification of the centre’s role, the states’ role, financing & procurement mechanisms & institutions, implementation nodal agencies, new government authorities. It also includes provisions promoting its pet theme – manufacturing and skill development and most importantly Renewable Power Obligation, a mandatory clause for generators, discoms and operators of transmission systems.
The central government is the pivot and justifiably so, for that alone can lead to a steady, orderly rollout scheme. So planning and implementation of nation-wide RE programmes, R&D, Technical Standardization, issuance of policy guidelines for states are proposed to be determined by the centre.
The state governments will align its moves to the National RE Plan. But, of course there will be differentiation because states will have their own resource assessment and energy data management, they will decide on their transmission infrastructure, establishment of energy parks, etc. A sphere of federal co-operation will emerge in the area of sharing incremental costs and facilitating framework for deployment.
New government authorities are proposed to oversee implementation and coordination. The National Renewable Energy Commission (NERC) will specifically look at inter ministerial coordination. It will be aided by a National RE Advisory group on specific technical issues.
And in order to be more purposive, the central government will convert one of its existing corporations into the RE Corporation of India tasked with procurement & supporting development of RE Investment zones in the country.
Of particular interest to common users & those living in inaccessible terrain is the focus of government on decentralized, distributed technology in its RE Resource Assessment Schedule. There is a whole section on Economic & financial matters. A National RE Fund is proposed with contributions from Clean Energy Fund, International Finance sources & even an ongoing cess. Similarly State Green Funds are proposed which will be given a start up corpus from the National Fund.
Equally extensive is the section on obligatory purchases of RE, Grid connectivity, payment to green generators & role of SERCs & green obligations of non-RE generators. It is a target oriented comprehensive draft. Please read our cover story to know specific details on this.
