Delhi launches Peer-to-Peer solar trading for power consumers

Power consumers in Delhi will now be able to sell and buy among themselves electricity generated through solar panels, as the city regulator DERC has given its nod for Peer-to-Peer (P2P) trading in a six-month pilot project, officials said on Thursday. The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) gave go-ahead to P2P power trading, while disposing petitions filed by the city discoms BRPL and TPDDL, on Wednesday, they said. The power regulator allowed intra-discom, intra-state and inter-state (Delhi-UP) P2P power trading with certain conditions for a period of six months. The key conditions imposed included a Rs 0.42/KWh transaction charge to be shared equally among buyers and sellers of electricity. It, however, did not allow the wheeling and network charges demanded by the discoms and also rejected open access charges within Delhi, officials said. ''Peer-to-Peer energy trading changes the way electricity is produced, bought and sold by giving consumers a more active role in the power sector. ''At BSES, we are proud to be part of this important pilot, which reflects our commitment to supporting forward-looking regulations and technology that benefit consumers and promote sustainability,'' said a BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL) spokesperson. The city discoms, including BRPL, BYPL and TPDDL, will take part in the P2P power trading pilot and showcase the initiative during the upcoming AI Summit to be held in Delhi, officials said. Under the pilot, the discoms will support trading platforms and onboard eligible consumers and 'prosumers' (consumers producing power), ensure smart meter and net metre readiness and integrating approved technology trading platforms under the India Energy Stack (IES) framework, they said. Further, activities of the discoms will include implementation of a secure digitsed onboarding through verified credentials (VC) based authentication, enabling billing adjustments for traded electricity units for both consumers and 'prosumers', officials said. Any consumer with a smart metre can join the pilot, after discom verification and onboarding through approved trading platform. The process will involve registration of consumers and 'prosumers' on approved P2P platform, as well as discom authentication. The consumer will be able to select offers and place purchase request through digital platforms. The power traded will be recorded through a digital-ledger-based settlement and will be reflected in the monthly bills. Only 'prosumers' with rooftop solar panel and consumers, having load less than 200 KW are eligible to participate in the pilot, officials said. The price of energy traded under P2P system is determined through mutually agreed price between the consumer and the prosumer on the trading platform, within the regulatory framework of the pilot. Other than P2P trade platform changes, all other charges are waived off by the DERC, officials said. The consumers will continue to receive their regular discom electricity bills, with P2P trade-related adjustments reflected transparently. The P2P trading allowed between Delhi and UP is among the first structured inter-state Peer-to-Peer (P2P) energy trading pilots being implemented in India under a national framework led by the India Energy Stack (IES), with active participation from discoms. In this initial pilot phase, BRPL, TPDDL and and Paschimanchal Vidhyut Vitran Nigam Limited (PVVNL) are the three participating discoms Similar models exist internationally, especially in parts of Europe and Australia, where local energy markets allow consumers to trade renewable energy under regulatory supervision. The key benefits of P2P power trading include greater access to green energy, potential savings for consumers, additional income opportunity for prosumers, transparent digital accounting, among others, officials added.