Early approval for transmission schemes under 66.5-GW renewable projects

In a major decision to fast track the deployment of Renewable Energy (RE) in India, Union Minister of State for Power and New & Renewable Energy (IC) and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship RK Singh has approved a proposal for early regulatory approval by central electricity regulatory commission (CERC) for transmission schemes identified for 66.5 GW national renewable energy mission projects.

Accordingly, the ministry of power has stated that, as a part of the steps necessary to fulfil the commitment made by India under the Nationally Determined Contribution pursuant to the Paris agreement on environment, government of India have decided to set up 175 GW of RE capacities in the country by the year 2022. As of May 2019 about 80 GW of RE generation has already been commissioned and the balance 95 GW has to come up in the next 3 Years. In order to achieve above targets, MNRE in consultation with CEA and Central Transmission Utility (CTU) has identified transmission schemes for around 66.5 GW of RE generation, comprising around 28 GW under Phase-I and around 38.5 GW under Phase-II as part of National Renewable Energy Mission of setting up of 175GW of RE capacity.

As the gestation period of RE projects is much shorter in comparison to the implementation period of the transmission facilities, and significant quantum of RE capacity targeted to be tendered out in the current financial year. The transmission activities need to be started much ahead of the generation so that both of them are completed in matching time-frame to achieve the target set by government of India. Thus, in the said background, it has been decided by the government to accord the identified transmission schemes for aforementioned 66.5 GW of RE generation, comprising around 28 GW under Phase-I and 38.5 GW under Phase-II as ‘Projects of National Importance’.