MNRE Provided Around Rs. 35 billion in CFA to RE Projects in India: R K Singh

Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy, R.K Singh has acknowledged the state-wise central financial assistance (CFA) that was released in 2018-19 (up till February 5, 2019).

As per Singh, in total the government has released around Rs.35 billion ($505 million) in CFA for renewable energy projects in India. Roughly Rs.23 billion ($327 million) was released to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). Gujarat – Rs.2.8 billion ($39 million), Andhra Pradesh – Rs.1.3 billion ($18 million) and Telangana – Rs.989 million ($14 million) were the top three CFA recipients of the year.

Central Financial Assistance provided by the Government of India is being consumed to support energy projects across solar, small hydro, wind, biomass and waste to energy through capital subsidy or generation-based incentives.

The MNRE also addressed questions on cumulative installed renewable energy capacity until December 31, 2018, across small hydro (4.5 GW), wind (35 GW), biomass (9.9 GW) and solar (25 GW) totaling around 74.4 GW.

In the previous year, the MNRE revised the payment guidelines for the CFA received by the state/central transmission utilities (STU/CTU) involved in the development of power evacuation infrastructure for solar parks. According to the revised guidelines, the MNRE has now split the payment to be received by the STU/CTU into three installments. Earlier, it was just a two-part payment process under which 50 percent of the CFA was paid by SECI after the award of the work and the remaining 50 percent was paid after the completion of the assigned work.

Under the MNRE revision, SECI will now pay 50 percent of CFA after the awarding of the work, 20 percent of the CFA upon the delivery of material at site and inspection by SECI officials, and the remaining 30 percent upon the successful completion of work. The new guidelines will help remove some burden off the shoulders of STUs and CTUs which are involved in the development of solar park evacuation infrastructure across the country.