Power market approaches maturity

The journey will continue and the maturity of the market can be achieved in the next 5 years till the year 2022. Dr. Rajib K Mishra, Director – BD & Marketing, PTC India Ltd
Financial weaknessWith installed capacity of 308GW, India has reached a stage where we can have surplus power. In last couple of years IPPs have added substantial capacity of power generation. Although statistically it appears that there is surplus power in the power market, but in reality there is still shortage of power in many parts of the country and power availability is less than 16 hours a day. This is due to inadequate load demand forecast and financial weakness of the state utilities to procure power in the market to meet the demand of consumers. “Several steps including UDAY scheme have been launched by Indian government to improve financial health of state discoms, but it will take some more time to get the full benefits of such schemes. Till such time, although there is surplus power available with generators and exchange, it is not getting transmitted and distributed to lowest level of consumers. This is primarily due to systemic and financial structural issues of state discoms,” informs Dr. Rajib K Mishra, Director – BD and Marketing, PTC India Ltd.
Capacity additionAccording to Mishra the contribution of IPPs and the capacity addition of more than 85,000MW in the last three years have contributed significantly for change in power supply scenario. Other than conventional source of generation emphasis of Indian government for renewable energy generation has also added capacity in the system. It is pertinent to mention that unlike conventional, renewable energy comes much faster and can be commissioned within 9 months from financial closure. “The strong supply side without adequate demand has led to situation where the prices have crashed in day-ahead market as well as in the short-term bilateral market,” says Mishra.
PTC’s catalytic rolePTC India ltd has played a catalytic role in creating robust power market in the country including co-promoting 1st power exchange in 2008. Other than bringing new products time to time, PTC has also significantly contributed towards bringing changes to remove aberrations in the market.
PTC from very beginning strongly believes that electricity consumers should get benefits of the market. After Electricity Act 2003, the trading activity was focused to trade electricity from surplus to deficit regions; creating awareness for different tariff at different time of the day and making participant understand the commercial value of electricity as a product. “PTC has introduced several products during last 16 years and is striving to achieve 50 BU mark of traded power in the year 2016-17,” states Mishra while briefing about PTC’s turnaround story.
Evolving new products Revealing on the future opportunities Mishra says, “Considering the growth trajectory of capacity addition in the country and dynamic power market emerging in future, PTC would continue to play a significant role in stabilising, creating and evolving new products to meet the customer needs. By fair estimation power market has achieved its maturity to the extent of only 30 per cent compared to the western world. The journey will continue and the maturity of the market can be achieved in the next 5 years till the year 2022.”