New Rajasthan wind policy heads in the right direction

The government of Rajasthan introduced a comprehensive policy to promote generation of power from non-conventional energy sources in 2004 (NES policy). Separate policies on biomass and solar energy were later adopted and on 18 July this year, the government issued a new standalone policy to promote generation of electricity from wind sources (wind policy).

The wind policy includes competitive bidding for the purchase of 300 MW of wind energy in 2013-14, 400 MW in 2014-15, and 500 MW in 2015-16, and sets out policies for forecasting and scheduling of wind energy.

Off-take arrangements

Under the policy, the sale of power from wind power projects falls into four categories: (1) direct sale of power to distribution companies from wind power projects with unlimited installed capacities up to 31 March 2013 on a feed-in tariff determined by the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC); (2) direct sale of power to distribution licensees on a tariff determined through competitive bidding from 1 April 2013 onwards; (3) wind power generated from captive power projects and sale to third parties located within the state at mutually agreed rates; and (4) sale of energy of unlimited capacity through the renewable energy certificate (REC) mechanism.

Avirup Nag is a counsel in the Delhi office of Trilegal, where Pia Singh is a senior associate. Trilegal is a full-service law firm with offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderaba