The REC trading for the month of November concluded yesterday. Figures reveal that the trading has increased significantly both in volume of RECs traded as well as the price.
In total 105,527 RECs were sold. Keeping with the trend of previous months, IEX had a higher share of the market with 96,154 (90%) RECs traded while PXIL saw trading of 9,373 (10%) certificates. The large volumes of trading indicate that the obligated entities are trying to fulfil their RPO as soon as possible as REC prices are showing an upward trend.
The price of REC varied between the two exchanges – IEX and PXIL. Non-solar RECs closed with a price of Rs. 2,900 at IEX while the RECs sold at Rs. 2,800 at the PXIL. At the IEX, the prices have seen a 7% rise over those paid last month where the trading price was Rs. 2,700 per REC.
| September | Non-Solar | Solar | ||||
| Buy Bids | Trade Volume | Sale Price | Buy Bids | Trade Volume | Sale Price | |
| IEX | 257,578 | 96,154 | 2,900 | 43 | – | – |
| PXIL | 51,199 | 9,373 | 2,800 | 0 | – | – |
| Total | 308,777 | 105,527 | – | 43 | – | – |
Interestingly, there are 43 buy bids for solar REC; this suggests that the solar REC market is gathering steam. This growing interest suggests that solar projects being planned based on REC may soon be bankable and we could see a trend in developers going for the REC mechanism during the interm period between now and the second phase of the National Solar Mission.
Solar developers have another reason to rejoice as well as maintain a shrewd view on the Solar REC market. This month saw the accreditation of the first Solar project under the REC mechanims – an 8.5 MW solar project located at Jalgaon, Maharasthra developed by Jain Irrigation Systems. This project’s viability has to be closely followed over the coming trading sessions as the REC certificates generated from the project slowly start coming up for sale.
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In total there are about 244 projects registered under REC with an aggregated capacity of 1551.92 MW (this excludes the lone solar project that recently got accredited).
Conclusion
The REC market continues to impress with higher sale prices and volumes. The REC prices are expected to rise over the coming months given the fact that there only 4 months left for RPO compliance. However, the price as such is expected to rise only gradually and not at the high rates seen over the year.
The registration of a solar project under the REC mechanism might open the flood gates for more solar projects depending on the performance of the solar RECS. This could lead to a pradigm shift in the solar project development in India, which up until now has looked up to the state/central solar policies as the only source for project viability thereby reducing the cost of solar power in India and accelerating the road to grid parity.
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