Sale of renewable energy certificates (RECs) increased by two-fold to 9.6 lakh in December from 3.19 lakh in November due to better compliance of Renewable Purchase Obligation by the companies.
RPO is an obligation mandated by central/state regulatory commission and is applicable to power distribution companies, open access consumer and captive consumers. They are under obligation to buy RECs from renewable energy producers to meet this norm.
Two power exchanges -- Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and Power Exchange India Limited (PXIL), approved by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission -- hold auction of RECs on the last Wednesday of every month.
IEX recorded sale of 8,65,675 RECs while PXIL witnessed sale of 94,366 RECs, according to statements issued by two exchanges separately.
Last month, 3,19,312 RECs were sold at the auction at the two exchanges.
"With 8.66 lac RECs traded, the December'15 Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) trading session at IEX held on December 30, 2015 recorded the highest ever trade since the inception of the market," IEX said in a statement.
The total trade volume this month is more than double of the previous highest trade of 4.24 lakh RECs traded in January 2015, the statement said.
This jump in traded volumes can be attributed to better RPO compliance with distribution companies purchasing RECs to meet their Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) compliance, it said.
IEX further said, "so far this year, 19.5 lakh RECs have been traded at IEX as compared to 4.3 lakh RECs last year in the same period. This is a good sign for RE (renewable electricity) generators who will get relief in terms of revenues."
"PXIL successfully conducted REC trading for the month of December 2015. The total cleared volume on the exchange was 94,366 RECs that led to PXIL having a Market Share of 9.83 per cent," PXIL said in a release.
