Government Authorities/Bodies involved with Power Sector:
Ministry of Power (MOP)
The Ministry of Power is an Indian government ministry. Thecurrent Union Minister of State (Independent charge) is Piyush Goyal. The ministry is charged with over seeing electricity production and infrastructure development, including generation, transmission, and delivery, as well as maintenance projects. India faces challenges in electrical supply and delivery, and is often unable to meet demand, even in very large cities. The ministry acts as a liaison between the central government and state electricity operations, as well as with the private sector. The ministry also oversees rural electrification projects. That ministry was split into the Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal, and Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (renamed the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in 2006).
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)
MNRE is a ministry of the Government of India. The ministry is currently headed by Piyush Goyal, a cabinet minister. The ministry was established as the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources in 1992. It adopted its current name in October 2006. The Ministry is mainly responsible for research and development, intellectual property protection, and international cooperation, promotion, and coordination in renewable energy sources such as wind power, small hydro, biogas, and solar power. The broad aim of the ministry is to develop and deploy new and renewable energy for supplementing the energy requirements of India. The mission of the Ministry is to bring in Energy Security, increase the share of clean power, increase Energy Availability and Access, improve Energy Affordability and maximise Energy Equity.
Power Finance Corporation (PFC)
It is an Indian financial institution and it is the financial back bone of Indian Power Sector. PFC has been providing financial assistance to power projects across India including generation, transmission, distribution and RM&U projects. Recently, it has forayed into financing of other infrastructure projects which have backward linkages to the power sector like coal mine development, fuel transportation, oil & gas pipelines etc. The borrower profile includes State Electricity Boards, State sector power utilities, Central sector power utilities and Private sector companies. PFC is also the nodal agency for the implementation of the ambitious Ultra Mega Power Plants (UMPPs) and the R-APDRP programme of Govt. of India. The company also has the mechanism of rating different state Power Utilities on its performance.
Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC)
It is a leading public Infrastructure Finance Company in India’s power sector. The company finances and promotes rural electrification projects across India, headquartered in New Delhi. The company provides loans to Central/ State Sector Power Utilities, State Electricity Boards, Rural Electric Cooperatives, NGOs and Private Power Developers. The company sanctions loan as a sole lender or co-lender or in consortium with or without the status of lead financer. It also provides consultancy, project monitoring and financial/ technical appraisal support for projects, also in the role of nodal agency for Government of India schemes or projects.
Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA)
It is a Mini Ratna Company established as a Non-Banking Financial Institution and it is engaged in promoting, developing and extending financial assistance for setting up projects relating to new and renewable sources of energy and energy efficiency/conservation with the motto: “ENERGY FOR EVER”. Its main objective is to give financial support to specific projects and schemes for generating electricity and/or energy through new and renewable sources and conserving energy through energy efficiency and to maintain its position as a leading organization to provide efficient and effective financing in renewable energy and energy efficiency/conservation projects. Further, all the states in India have established its own renewable energy development agency like New & Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Ltd. (NREDCAP) in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh Energy Development Agency (AEDA in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam Energy Development Agency (AEDA) in Assam, Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) in Karnataka, Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (MEDA) in Maharashtra, Telangana New & Renewable Energy Development Agency (TNREDCL) in Telangana, New & Renewable Energy Department, Govt. of MP in Madhya Pradesh, Agency for Non-Conventional Energy and Rural Technology (ANERT) in Kerala, Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) in Punjab, Department of Renewable Energy, Govt. of Haryana (HAREDA) in Haryana, Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation Limited (RRECL) in Rajasthan, Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA) in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA) in Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (TEDA) in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh New & Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPREDCL) in Uttar Pradesh, etc. The aim of these is to promote projects for harnessing energy from wind, small-hydro, biomass, solar energy and energy recovery from wastes through private investment. These companies advises the Government of their respective states on policies to be adopted for ensuring a systematic and balanced growth of projects for harnessing renewable energy sources. It also create synergies between industry, finance, government, and technical experts to evaluate challenges and opportunities arising from law and policy; Make politically feasible recommendations to promote clean energy. They also act as a catalyst for change to promote policy and legal instruments that will enhance the market position for renewable energy.
Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI)
It is a company of the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, established to facilitate the implementation of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. It is the only Public Sector Undertaking dedicated to the solar energy sector. The company's mandate has recently been broadened to cover the entire renewable energy domain and the company renamed to Renewable Energy.
Corporation of India (RECI)
The company is responsible for implementation of a number of government schemes, major ones being the VGF schemes for large-scale grid-connected projects under JNNSM, solar park scheme and grid-connected solar rooftop scheme, along with a host of other specialized schemes such as defence scheme, canal-top scheme, Indo-Pak border scheme etc. In addition, SECI has ventured into solar project development on turnkey basis for several PSUs. Central Electricity Regulatory Commission: Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), a key regulator of power sector in India, is a statutory body functioning with quasi-judicial status under Sec-76 of the Electricity Act 2003. CERC was instituted primarily to regulate the tariff of Power Generating companies owned or controlled by the government of India, and any other generating compan which has a composite scheme for power generation and interstate transmission of energy, including tariffs of generating companies. The Commission has notified the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Terms and Conditions for Tariff determination from Renewable Energy Sources) Regulations, 2012, on 06.02.2012 (hereinafter referred to as “the RE Tariff Regulations”), which provide for terms and conditions and the procedure for determination of tariff of the generic tariff of Renewable Energy (RE) generating stations for all the states in India by considering the cost escalation rate, WPI, CPI, raw material indices, etc. CERC determines the generic tariff orders for all the renewable energy generating stations every year. State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs): State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs) are the electricity regulators operating at various state levels. They are mainly involved in determining the tariff of intra state generating stations, intra state transmission system and the renewable energy generations of Renewable Energy Generating Stations. All the States in India have their own Electricity Regulatory Commission like APERC, MERC, AERC, MPERC, KERC, KSERC, TNERC, etc. Central Transmission Utility: POWERGRID is the Central Transmission Utility (CTU) in India. As per Section-38 of Electricity Act, 2003 the CTU is to undertake transmission of electricity through inter-State transmission system; to discharge all functions of planning and co-ordination relating to inter-State transmission system with–State Transmission Utilities, Central Government, State Governments, Generating Companies, Regional Power Committee, Authority, licensee, etc. Further, CTU is to ensure development of an efficient, co-ordinated and economical system of inter-State transmission lines for smooth flow of electricity from generating stations to the load centres. They are also involved in providing non-discriminatory open access to its transmission system for use by any licensee or generating company on payment of the transmission charges. CTU is mainly responsible for Grant of Connectivity and Open Access for Inter-state Generating Station and Inter-State Transmission System.State Transmission Utility: Each State in India has their own Transmission Utility (STU). As per Section-39 of Electricity Act, 2003 the CTU is to undertake transmission of electricity through inter-State transmission system; to discharge all functions of planning and co-ordination relating to intra-State transmission system with–Central Transmission Utilities, State Governments, Generating Companies, Regional Power Committee, Authority, licensee, etc. Further, STU is to ensure development of an efficient, co-ordinated and economical system of intra-State transmission lines for smooth flow of electricity from generating stations to the load centres. They are also involved in providing non-discriminatory open access to its transmission system for use by any licensee or generating company on payment of the transmission charges with in the State. STU is mainly responsible for Grant of Connectivity and Open Access for Intra-state Generating Station and Intra-State Transmission System.