Understanding West Bengal’s DSM and RE Policy vis-à-vis DREC Project

Presentation by –

Arnab GangulyProject OfficerCUTS International

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Scheme of the Presentation About the DREC Project

Advocacy Issues that emerged from the DREC Project

Advocacy Issues pertaining to DSM Advocacy Issues pertaining to RE

An overview of West Bengal’s RE Policy

Revisiting the advocacy issues in the light of the RE Policy

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Objectives of the DREC project Overall Objective –

To increase long-term capacity/awareness of consumer groups to demand for DSM and RE initiatives, and also to understand, document and communicate their specific needs to relevant policy makers.

Specific Objectives

To gauge the level of awareness among various stakeholders on RE and DSM

To understand consumers’ willingness to pay for RE

To understand the various roadblocks to effective implementation of initiatives pertaining to RE and DSM

Major Activities undertaken so far..…

Baseline survey of 513 respondents in the selected 4 territories in West Bengal

20 Consumer Interface Meetings with different stakeholder categories (approximately 550 consumers)

Details….

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Major Advocacy Issues – Related to DSM

West Bengal need a DSM Policy to promote efficient generation, distribution and use of electricity

Any DSM initiative should be evaluated based on feedback from consumers.

BEE / SDA should use the existing CSO network to reachout to the consumers at the grassroots.

Need to generate greater awareness about Energy Efficient Technologies (EETs) among different category of stakeholders

Need for appropriate DSM measures in areas of Sunderban where grid has reached very recently viz. Gosaba

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Major Advocacy Issues – Related to RE

Need to Strengthen the after sales service for RETs by training local youth

Need to revive the existing off-grid projects

Need for regulations to ensure long term sustainability of RE based off-grid projects – metering facility should be introduced

Need for financial incentives (viz. soft loans, rebates on electricity bills etc.) to motivate grid-connected consumers to use RETs (especially hotels, government buildings etc.)

Grid connected rooftop solar to be encouraged through popularising net-metering system

Incentives need to be provided to the DISCOMs who exceed their RPO targets

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Major Highlights of West Bengal RE Policy

Identification of appropriate technologies

Implementation and Monitoring

Financing

Regulatory Issues

Social and Environmental Issues

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Policy Targets

RE Sources Potential (in MW)

Existing installed

Capacity (in MW)

Target Cumulative Capacity (in MW)

2017 (End of 13th Plan)

2022 (End of 13th Plan)

Wind Power 450 2 75 450Mini & Small

Hydro 394 97 220 394

Biomass 662 16 240 662Waste to Energy 100 7 50 100

Solar Under Preparation 2 100 500

Cogeneration 600 69 355 600Total 2,206 193 1,040 2,706

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Implementation Strategies (Page 12-18)

Nodal agency to undertake RE resource assessment study

Existing tariff structure for RE to be revisited

Nodal agency to guide developers to get all the necessary clearances

Encouraging Co-Generation in Iron and Steel Industry, Fertilizer and Chemical Industries having connected load of 2,000 KVA and above

Targeting huge capacity addition through grid-connected rooftop and smaller solar installations

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Commercial establishments having more than 1.5 MW of contract demand will be required to install solar to meet at least 2% of their electrical requirement

All existing and upcoming schools and colleges, hospitals, large housing societies and government establishments having a total contract demand of more than 500 KW will be required to install solar rooftop

Growth centres, industrial parks, intelligent parks etc. shall mandatorily employ solar rooftop to meet some part of their in-house demand

Development of Mini-solar project (maximum 150 kW size), projects shall be done under the DDG model.

Strategies to promote use of Solar Applications (Page 16 – 18)

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Monitoring of RE Projects (Page 19-24)

WBGEDCL to facilitate investment

WBREDA to set up demonstration projects

Allotment of RE projects in two ways - Solicited (< 2 MW) OR, Unsolicited (>=2 MW)

Competitive Bidding route will be followed – Two stage process

Mandatory Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) – Developer offering highest discount on the ceiling tariff will sign the PPA

PPA to be signed with the host utility / DISCOM – timeline for such projects to mentioned clearly

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Evacuation Infrastructure – (Page 22)

Creating Pooling Stations

Cost beyond the point of interconnection with the grid to be borne by the licensee and the consumers

Cost of interfacing equipment to be borne by the developer

The technical specifications for grid connectivity will be governed by WBERC regulations

Time Limit for the project –

Work should start within 6 months of getting all the clearances

Time limit mentioned in the implementation agreement to be strictly followed

Nodal agency to closely monitor progress of the projects

Monitoring of RE Projects (Page 19-24)

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RE Project Financing (Page 25-26) Creation of Green Energy Fund

To promote RE initiatives

Contribution by the Government (equity contribution) and International Donor agencies

The Nodal agency will manage this fund

80% of the penalty imposed for violation of statutory clearances

50% of the penalty imposed for not meeting RPO targets

PPP models

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Regulatory Issues (Page 26-29) Mandatory RPOs

DISCOMs can also purchase REC to meet RPO targets

Penalty for Failing to comply with RPO targets

Utilities are free to procure power (from RE sources) from outside state but the price should not exceed the cap fixed by WBERC

PPA to be signed following competitive bidding

Open access as per WBERC Regulations

Net metering facility to be extended to grid connected rooftop Solar PV

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Incentives (Page 29) Exemption of Demand Cut

Letter of Credit as a payment security mechanism

Government to provide some basic infrastructural support in remote areas

Concessions and incentives allowed by MNRE

Entire proceeds of carbon credit from approved CDM projects shall be retained by the generating company

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Revisiting the advocacy issues pertaining to RE in the light of West Bengal’s RE Policy

Advocacy Issues Whether addressed in the RE policy

How to strengthen it further

Promoting grid connected rooftop solar

YES • Extend the facility to ordinary households with a load above a certain threshold

• Provide rebates on the electricity bill• Extended to areas where grid

consumers face the problems of frequent voltage fluctuation / load shedding

Need to Strengthen the after sales service for RETs by training local youth

NO • Organise training programs involving local youths on how to repair RETs

• Separate labelling needs to be developed to ensure good quality of RETs

Need for financial incentives to buyers of RETs

NO • Advocacy with Banks and financial institutions to provide loans for buying RETs at low interest rates

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Revisiting the advocacy issues pertaining to RE in the light of West Bengal’s RE Policy …….(contd.)

Advocacy Issues Whether addressed in the RE policy

How to strengthen it further

Need for regulations to ensure long term sustainability of RE based off-grid projects – metering facility should be introduced

NO• Appropriate regulations governing

quality of service, billing metering etc. to be introduced

Incentives need to be provided to the DISCOMs who exceed their RPO targets

NO • The distribution utilities should be given incentives to overachieve the RPO targets

Need to revive the existing off-grid projects

NO • There should be a definite strategy plan to ensure that the investment going into setting up a demonstration project should not become bad investment after a certain period

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Questions on the way forward

Will the RE Policy encourage private investment on RE in the state ?

What could be Challenges ?

How to overcome those ?

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THANK YOU

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ANNEXURES

Baseline Survey for West Bengal

Methodology - Total Sample Size – 513

Household – 210 Agriculture – 56 Industrial (SME) – 37 Government Institutions - 53 Commercial and Private Institutions – 70 NGO/CSO - 87

Number of Districts – 4 South 24 Parganas (The Sunderbans area) - 204 Cooch Behar - 106 Nadia - 103 East Midnapore - 100

HOUSEHOLD41%

AGRICULTURAL11%

INDUSTRIAL7%

GOVERNMENT INSTITUTION

10%

COMMERCIAL INSTITUTION

14%

NGO / CSO17%

SAMPLE COMPOSITION - STAKEHOLDER CATEGORIES

COOCH BEHAR

21%

EAST MID-NAPORE

19%

NADIA20%

SOUTH 24 PGS40%

SAMPLE COMPOSITION - RESPON-DENTS FROM SELECTED DISTRICTS

Baseline Survey for West Bengal

Methodology – Criteria for Choosing Districts –

Sunderbans (South 24 Parganas) ---- where RE initiatives have been undertaken

Cooch Behar --- isolated islands -----virgin territory for RE initiative Nadia & East Midnapore ---- Grid Connected----higher relevance of DSM

Details 4 districts – 10 territories (Blocks)--- 2 in each district; but in

Sunderbans 4 blocks 1 CSOs from each territory – 10 CSOs 50 respondents in each territory --- 50x100= 500 respondents

From each of the territories both Urban and Rural areas were surveyed

Stakeholder wise CIMs in the selected territories in West BengalName of the

District Name of the CSOs Name of the Territory Stakeholder Category

South 24 Parganas

Ramakrishna Loka Seva Kendra Gosaba (Urban) HouseholdKochukhali (Rural) CSO

Debnibas Sindhubala Narikalyan Samity

Namkhana (Urban) Household7mile (Rural) CSO

MUKTI Raidighi (Urban) HouseholdCSO

Baikunthapur Tarun Sangha K Plot Diesel OperatorsRamganga Household

East Midnapore

Kajla Jana Kalyan SamityPatashpur (Rural) Agriculture Contai (Urban) School authorities

Alinan Ramkrishna Vivekananda Yuva

Tamluk (Rural) HouseholdTamluk (Urban) CSO

NadiaSreema Mahila Samity Ranaghat (Urban) Household

Sreerampur (Rural) AgricultureChapra Social and Economic Welfare Association (SEWA)

Chapra (Urban) HouseholdMahatpur (Rural) CSO

Cooch BeharHaldibari Welfare Organisation Haldibari (Urban) Household

CSODakshin Ramchandrapur Vivekananda Seva Kendra

Dinhata CSODinhata (Rural) Agriculture

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Stakeholder Category Number of CIMs Number of Participants (apprx.)

Households 8 200

CSO 7 210

Farmers 3 100

Schools 1 19

Diesel Operators 1 30

TOTAL 559