Report on policy and regulatory interventions to support community level off-grid projects
Considering importance of electricity from socio-economic perspective, the Electricity Act 2003 contains supporting provisions for rural electrification and de-licensing rural power supply. The government also launched the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) in 2005 to provide free electricity connections to 2.34 crore rural population below poverty line (BPL) in over one lakh un-electrified villages. The central Government has also notified Rural Electrification Policy in 2006, which identifies support mechanisms for grid connected as well as off-grid electricity solutions for rural population. Recently launched Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) also has specific targets for off-grid solar power projects in short as well as long term. On this backdrop, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) and Forum of Regulators (FOR) are interested in evaluating possible options under the regulatory framework to support off-grid RE programmes thus enabling electricity access to a large section of society. The present work, supported by Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation (SSEF) is thus aimed to provide analytical support to CERC/FOR to provide inputs and specifically focus on the measures that can support community off-grid renewable energy projects through possible policy and regulatory interventions.