Power regulator CERC has decided to defer the implementation of real-time power market till June 1 amid the coronavirus outbreak, a senior official said.
Earlier, it was scheduled to kick in from April 1 this year.
The real-time power market (RPM) enables consumers, including distribution companies (discoms) and captive users, to buy power on exchanges just an hour before delivery.
The official told PTI that the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has issued an order recently about deferring the implementation of RPM on the request of industry.
The official also said necessary trials could not be completed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
A large number of industry workers are working from home in the wake of the pandemic.
The hearing of stakeholders on the draft regulation on a real-time power market was completed last year.
The regulation for RPM was also passed. Power exchanges and industry players were preparing for the launch of RPM on April 1, 2020.
Currently, consumers, including discoms and captive users, can buy power a day prior in the Day Ahead Market (DAM) on the power exchanges where trading is done for two hours daily from 10 am to 12 noon.
The main purpose of introducing real-time power market is to deal with the renewables interference and better portfolio management by power general companies (gencos), discoms and other consumers.
With more and more renewable energy capacity being added to power grids, there would be need for sudden ramp-up and downsizing of supply.
The consumers can plan their energy supplies in a better way and gencos would be able to increase or decrease their output accordingly.
Under the new system, there will be 48 sessions of half an hour each in a day. It means that the trading of electricity would be done round the clock.
After closing of the hour-an-hour session, the power delivery can be scheduled at an interval of one hour.
Thus, if a consumer buys power in the 1:30 pm-2 pm session, the electricity supply can be scheduled as early as 3 pm on the same day.
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