TNERC approves Tangedco's green energy certificate

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) has approved the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation's (Tangedco) proposal to implement a green energy tariff and issuance of green energy certificates to high-tension consumers hoping to generate a revenue of Rs 424 crore through it.

To promote renewable energy, Tangedco sought the introduction of the green energy tariff in its tariff petition last year. TNERC in its order allowed Tangedco to introduce the green tariff for HT services permitting it to charge a tariff of 10 per cent over the respective tariff.

A senior Tangeco official said that the sale of green power to needy HT consumers with the renewable energy certificate promotes green power. Green Energy Certificate (GEC) promotes the generation as well as consumption of RE which paves the way to 100 per cent use of Renewable sources in future, the Tangedco said.

TANGEDCO would be launching an online portal for HT consumers who wish to avail of GEC on a "first come first serve" basis along with the quantity of renewable energy required and time period. "The Chief Engineer / Non-conventional energy sources shall scrutinise the application and quantity (MU) to be approved based on the RE quantum available with TANGEDCO less the renewable purchase obligation of the open access consumers and shall issue "Green Energy Certificate" monthly after the billing of "Green Energy Tariff" for the approved quantity," the order said.

Tangedco has an installed renewable energy capacity of 17,237 MW. As per its tentative working and revenue project, Tangedco has the RE quantity of 18,892 MU available to be sold to HT consumers under the green tariff. It said even if 50 per cent of the industrial consumers opt for green energy certificates, Tangedco would get a revenue of Rs 424 crore.

TNERC order said that Tangedco should encourage the consumers in letter and spirit who opt to procure Green power. Tangedco should designate consumers who opt to procure green power to meet 100% of their consumption as "Green Consumers" in recognition of their noble contribution to society, by mitigating carbon emissions, it said, directing the utility to launch the web portal within a month and process the applications manually until then.