Union Power Minister R K Singh on Wednesday launched pan-Indian real-time market in electricity, which allows consumers like discoms to buy power just one hour before delivery.
Real-time market (RTM) enables consumers, including distribution companies (discoms) and captive users, to buy power on exchanges quickly.
The real-time market went live at Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and Power Exchange India Limited (PXIL) at 10:45 PM on May 31, 2020 for delivery at 12:00 AM on June 01 (Sunday midnight), 2020 said a statement from the Ministry of Power.
This will also provide an alternate mechanism for discoms to access larger market at competitive price.
National Load Despatch Centre-POSOCO is facilitating necessary automation in coordination with power exchanges to ensure faster transactions and settlements in the real time market framework, the statement said.
The new system of electricity marketing would help to mitigate challenges to the grid management due to intermittent and variable nature of renewable energy generation and therefore, help to integrate higher quantum of renewable energy resources into the grid, the statement said.
Real-time market will also make the power market dynamic as auctions will be conducted every 30 minutes. There will be 48 auction sessions during the day, the Minister said while launching through video conference.
The introduction of real-time market will bring required flexibility in the market to provide real-time balance while ensuring optimal utilization of the available surplus capacity in the system, the Minister said.