National Workshop on Exploring Virtual Power Purchase Agreements (VPPA) for India
USAID, through its South Asia Regional Energy Partnership (SAREP) program, in association with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), organized a national workshop on ‘Exploring Virtual Power Purchase Agreements (VPPA) for India’ on July 13, 2023 in New Delhi.
The workshop emerged as a platform for stakeholders including private sector, commercial and industrial consumers, renewable energy developers to deliberate on the VPPA mechanism for India. The inaugural session was delivered by Mr. Dinesh Jagdale, Joint Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) followed by a special address by Dr. Sushanta Chatterjee, Chief (Regulatory Affairs), Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). The workshop comprised technical presentations and experience sharing, and a panel discussion.
The discussions helped stakeholders understand VPPA, gather feedback on the RE procurement mechanism and identify the interventions/ areas that need to be addressed if VPPA would be brought to India. This was followed by technical presentation and experience sharing on VPPA followed by a panel discussion. The event was attended by 91 participants and was also streamed live on YouTube. The feedback and outcome of the workshop will be presented to MNRE.
Various presentations highlighting how VPPA helps corporates achieve sustainability targets, how RE can help address the challenges of VPPA and its global perspective along with case studies were presented. Some key feedback and insights from the discussions emphasized how VPPA has the potential to help India meet its 2030 RE target and increase RE deployment in the commercial and industrial segment of the country. VPPA can also emerge as a game-changer as it does not conflict with the revenue model of DISCOMs. A greater need for sensitization of key stakeholders on the concept was felt. The importance of guidelines which need to be issued by governing bodies pertaining to VPPA, which would ease its adoption in India, was also discussed.
An additional and innovative RE procurement model like Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) can be introduced in India to support the RE penetration and provide benefits like hedging the RE generator against market price volatility and at the same time, paving way for C&I consumers and corporates to meet their sustainability targets and internal green mandates. VPPA can also provide RE generators with a firm revenue stream, thus encouraging the merchant RE plants in the country. Most importantly, VPPA can provide an additional means to reach the country’s 2030 RE target.
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