Centre turns wary of green power bids

THE GOVERNMENT MAY also review the green shoe option, that is, the flexibility to SECI and procuters to raise the total contracted capacity from beyond the originally awarded level.

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Government soutces said the review of the green shoe option doesn’t refer to scrapping it, but revising the modalities where more clarityis required.

Experts have been highlighting the issue of RE capacities getting stuck, due to grid connectivity issues,and congestion in many cases after collectivity is achieved. While India's installed power capacity is almost equally divided between green (including hydro), and thermal power, REcan meetless than a fifth of peak power demand, due tothe intermittent nature of this energy, and grid connectivity issues. Though incentives are being offered for REbattery storage systems,and pace of investments, including from the private sector, in the transmission sector has risen, a certain mass of existing RE capacity is awaiting buyers, causing uncertainty among the investor community, and a slowdown in the pace of projects.

The ministry said itis closely monitoring the cases where letters of award (LoAs) have been issued by Renewable Energy Implementing Agencies (REIAs), but PSAs with discoms or end-procurers have not yet been finalised.