Govt plans to consider six months as dry season

Government plans to increase dry season period to six months from four months. This certainly is a good news for IPPs as the RoR projects will be entitled to get dry season rate (Rs. 8.40 per kWh) for six months (December to May). However, it comes with a clause which to me is useless and is not in the favor of project and the country as a whole.



In order to get the above rate, the total dry energy should be 30 percent of the total energy produced. Previously, it was 15 percent only (for four months).

This is an impossible task for the projects with a design parameter of Q40. If we look at recent trends, projects are struggling to achieve 15 percent in four months. Another 15 percent in just two months is impossible.

The only way to obtain 30 percent is by lowering down the design discharge significantly.

I understand why government is coming up with this idea. It claims that there will be excess energy during wet season once Upper Tamakoshi comes into operation while there will be a shortage of electricity during dry season. It looks like the only interest of government is to encourage dry energy only.

This clause will have two major consequences. First, projects will not have freedom to optimize itself. For instance, a project may be financial viable as well as optimum at Q30 or Q40 but with this clause, the project has to be designed at Q70 or Q80 (approximate) which will lower down the install capacity significantly. It kills the full potential of the project.

Second, it may be a 'quick fix' to so called spill energy but it is not the overall solution. Downsizing install capacity is a waste of our resources.

Besides RoR, government is preparing a same type of clause to storage projects too. For storage projects, 35 percent has to be dry season energy (6 months). In order to achieve this, same thing applies as above, i.e., downsizing the install capacity.