At present, CMRL has an installed rooftop solar capacity of 5.2 MW and it aims to increase the capacity up to 8 MW which would help generate 11.6 million units per year. “By procuring the renewable power on long term basis at a cheaper rate, we will be able to save our expense on monthly power bill,” a senior CMRL official said.

As of now, CMRL has been charged Rs 6.35 per unit for the Railway traction consumption by Tangedco while other loads like ATM, kiosks, stalls and hotels in the Metro premises were being charged separately at Rs 8 per unit. “When the energy could be procured at cheaper rate, it makes sense to use the opportunity. Moreover, CMRL is facing financial burden considering the higher tariff paid by it as against Rs 3 per unit envisaged during the DPR based on which load schedule were worked out,” the official said.

An expert in the power sector said the developers have now started to look at group captive power projects as a business model to expand operations in the open access market. “Unlike an individual captive or third-party sale power project, group captive is an arrangement through which a developer sets up a power project for the collective use of multiple industrial or commercial consumers who have 26 per cent equity in the project and must consume 51 per cent of the power produced,” the expert said, noting that the primary advantage of a group captive model is that cross-subsidy, and additional surcharges are not levied on the power procured.

Visit news.dtnext.in to explore our interactive epaper!