India may introduce renewables target for power producers

Sep 15, 2014 - Indian power producers will be required to build renewable energy facilities so as to speed up the development of renewables and lower the country's dependence on coal, the energy minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday.

Currently, electricity distributors have to source about 10% of their power from renewables, but there is no such rules for power producers themselves. Distributors can either produce green electricity or buy Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) under the renewable purchase obligation (RPO) in order to help offset the environmental footprint from conventional power production.

Under the new policy, the country will introduce a separate green target for power generators, requiring all companies building fossil fuel power facilities to source a certain amount of their power from renewables, Goyal said during the 2014 Economist India Summit in New Delhi. State-owned firms Coal India (BOM:533278) and NTPC Ltd (BOM:532555) also face a renewables target.

India’s renewable energy segment is expected to attract about USD 100 billion (EUR 77.2m) of investment in the next five years, Goyal calculates. At present, India generates 60% of its total power from coal.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.772)

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