Power market trades 6,540 MU in May amid coronavirus lockdowns

Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) traded 6,540 million units of electricity volume in May, achieving 9 per cent year-on-year growth amid continuation of Covid-19 lockdowns as well the cyclonic disturbances which affected overall power demand in the country.

The national peak demand at 169 GW recorded a 2 per cent growth while the energy consumption at 111 BU saw 8 per cent growth on the weak base, the exchange said on Monday.

The day-ahead market traded 4,364 MU volume in May with average monthly price at Rs 2.83 per unit. The market clearing price saw a steep decline of 24 per cent on month-on-month basis since average monthly price was Rs 3.70 in April.

 

The real-time electricity market witnessed a monthly volume of 1,436 MU with average monthly price at Rs 2.53 per unit seeing 28 per cent month-on-month decline. With sell-side bids at 2.6X of cleared volume, the market continued to have ample availability of power and competitive price discovery.

The term-ahead market comprising intra-day, contingency, daily and weekly contracts traded 383 MU during the month.

The green term-ahead market traded the highest ever volume of 357 MU during May comprising 194 MU in the solar segment and 164 MU in the non-solar segment, achieving a significant growth of 92 per cent month-on-month.

A total of 43 participants participated with distribution utilities from West Bengal, Bihar, Haryana, Telangana, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, and Gujarat as key participants.

The recently-launched cross border electricity trade achieved 119 MU volume, IEX said in a statement.

IEX is India's premier energy exchange providing a nationwide automated trading platform for physical delivery of electricity, renewable power, renewable energy certificates and energy saving certificates.

The exchange platform enables efficient price discovery, and increases accessibility and transparency of the power market while enhancing speed and efficiency of trade execution.