Unsold renewable energy certificate count reaches 23 lakh and increasing

Renewable energy certificate market is still reeling under tepid demand with over 23 lakh RECs going unsold for past some months.


In the last trading at India Energy Exchange ( IEX) on Wednesday, 31,148 solar REC and 22,86,976 non-solar REC were left unsold.

The trading session at IEX, featured trade of 38,195 non-solar and 5,880 solar RECs with supply far exceeding demand.

In the non-solar segment, buy bids of 38,195 RECs and sell bids of 23, 25,171 RECs were received against which 38,195 were cleared at Rs 1,500 per REC.

In the solar segment, buy bids of 5,880 RECs and sell bids of 37,028 RECs were received against which 5,880 RECs were cleared at Rs 9,300 per REC.

Due to dearth of buyers, REC market in India has crashed. Calculations by power trading body India Energy Exchange and MNRE show that at the current level of RPO, the cumulative requirement for all states would be 1.14 crore non-solar REC and 16 lakh solar REC in 2012-13. For 2013-14, the requirement would go up to 1.67 crore non-solar and 21 lakh solar REC.

"There are enough RECs in the market to meet the current and upcoming demand for next 3 years. Sale of REC depends on the compliance by obligated entities. Money is hardly an issue if there is a positive approach towards renewable energy, said Rajesh Mediratta, director (business development), IEX.

He said that currently there are only 4000 mw of projects that are registered under the REC regime, but the demand would grow and this would hopefully bring REC market back on track.

Pre defined solar RPO target for all states, as mentioned in ' National Tariff Policy' currently ranges from 0.25% to 1.90% of their requirement. Non-solar obligation is in a larger band of 2.5% to 10%. Solar power rich states like Gujarat and Rajasthan are the only ones to achieve their solar RPO targets.