Green certificates trading in India put on hold by court - report

The Supreme Court of India has put on hold trading in Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) after the recent downward revision of REC prices, Business Standard reports.

The court has also stayed the new prices approved by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), the paper said, citing sources in the know. As previously reported, the forbearance and floor prices for both solar and non-solar RECs have been cut from the start of April.

The new floor price for solar RECs is now INR 1,000 (USD 15.6/EUR 14.2) per MWh, as compared to INR 3,500/MWh previously. This follows the steep decline in solar power purchase bids in Indian tenders. This spring a tender for 250 MW of solar power generation capacity in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh got a record-low bid of INR 3,150 per MWh.

Under the REC scheme, renewable power producers in India receive credits for the power they produce if they do not take advantage of other incentives. For many months RECs in India have been trading at floor prices because certificate supply is much greater than demand. Companies generating RECs now fear that the unsold volumes of certificates cannot be cleared at the new low prices and have asked the Appellate Tribunal of Electricity (APTEL) for a solution to that problem, says the report.

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