The Power Ministry on Monday circulated Draft Electricity (Promoting Renewable Energy Through Green Energy Open Access) Rules, 2021. The ministry has put up these draft rules on its website and is seeking public comments on them during the next 30 days. 

These rules have been proposed for the purchase and consumption of green energy. This would include energy from waste-to-energy plants, the ministry said in its release. 

The draft rules propose that the tariff for green energy should be determined by the “appropriate commission”. The tariff may comprise the “average pooled power purchase cost of the renewable energy, cross-subsidy charges (if any) and service charges covering all prudent cost of the distribution licensee for providing the green energy”. 

The draft rules state that green hydrogen is produced using electricity from renewable sources. It adds that obligated entities, such as industries, can meet their Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) by purchasing green hydrogen. 

The draft rules mention that the quantum of green hydrogen would be determined by “considering the equivalence to the green hydrogen produced from one mwh of electricity from the renewable sources or their multiple”. 

The Ministry of Power has stated that the norms shall be notified by the Central Commission. It explains that the appropriate commission will put in place regulations in accordance with the draft rules to provide consumers open access to green energy. The draft rules state that all applications for open access to green energy shall be granted within 15 days. 

These draft rules have been circulated a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day speech, announced the National Hydrogen Mission through which India would become the global hub of green hydrogen. 

“Green hydrogen is the future of the world. Today, I announce the setting up of the National Hydrogen Mission with the aim of becoming the new global hub of green hydrogen and also its largest exporter,” he had said in his Independence Day address.