The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has notified generic tariffs in the range of ₹4.76-5.84 per kilowatt hour (kWh) for various small hydro projects across States for FY23.
For small hydro projects below 5 megawatts (MW) in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, North Eastern states, as well as Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the regulator now will have a levellised total tariff of ₹5.23 per unit, while for projects with capacity of 5-25 MW in these States, the rate is ₹4.76 per unit.
Similarly, for other States with small hydro capacity below 5 MW, the levellised total tariff is at ₹5.84 per unit, whereas for projects from 5-25 MW, it is ₹5.76 a unit.
These are part of the commission’s notification, under Regulation 8 (1) of the CERC (Terms and Conditions for Tariff determination from Renewable Energy Sources) Regulations, 2020, to fix generic tariffs of various RE projects for the third year of control period (FY23).
Besides small hydropower projects, the commission also notified levellised generic tariffs for biomass power projects with Rankine cycle technology, non-fossil fuel-based co-generation projects, biomass gasifier-based power projects, and biogas-based power projects.
Generic tariffs for FY23
For various technologies of biomass power projects, the CERC has notified net levellised tariffs (upon adjusting for Accelerated Depreciation Benefit, if availed) in the range of ₹8.01 to ₹9.62 per unit.
It has notified tariffs for biomass projects in Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan with biomass availability. The rest have been clubbed under ‘Others’.
A similar structure has been followed for bagasse-based co-generation projects, with separate tariffs for the above eight States (in range of ₹6.05-7.70 per unit) and for ‘Others’ at ₹6.87 a unit.
In the case of biomass gasifier power projects, the tariffs for Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, AP, Telangana, Maharashtra, UP, and Rajasthan are in the range of ₹7.58-8.71 per unit. For ‘Others’, it is at ₹8.05 a unit.