The slump in spot power price continued in August 2018. In August , the recorded spot power price was ₹3.34 (~$)/kWh which was still higher than recent tariffs quoted in solar and wind auctions. The price in August was 3.51 percent lower than the spot power price of ₹3.46 (~$0.0505)/kWh recorded in July 2018. Compared to July 2017, the spot power price has increased by 6.81 percent year-over-year (YoY). Heavy monsoon rains in various parts of India have affected the demand for power as well as prices discovered in the market in the recent months. According to the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), “The all India peak demand touched 170 GW on August 10, 2018 registering a 1 percent decline month-on-month (MoM) basis as per the National Load Dispatch Center (NLDC) statistics. This is equivalent to the 1 percent decline recorded in July 2018. The electricity market at IEX’s Day-ahead Market (DAM) and Term-ahead Market (TAM) combined traded 4,061 million units (MU) in August 2018 compared to 4,149 MU traded in July 2018 and 4,098 MU traded in August 2017. The DAM traded 3,975 MU in August 2018, a 1.31 percent decline compared to 4,028 MU traded in July 2018, and almost at par with 3,982 MU traded August last year. On a daily average basis about 128 MU were traded during the month of August with average daily sell bids at 237 MU and average daily buy bids at 158 MU. The average market price was lowest during the day at ₹2.87/kWh and highest during the evenings at ₹4.55/kWh. “One Nation, One Price” was realized for 27 days. The DAM experienced minor transmission congestion for 1 percent of total time during the month mainly in the import of power to northern region. On daily average basis 654 participants traded in the DAM during the month. The Term-Ahead Market (TAM) traded 87 MU in August 2018 registering a decline of 28 percent MoM basis and 26 percent decline YoY basis. Saumy is a senior staff reporter with MercomIndia.com covering business and energy news since 2016. Prior to Mercom, Saumy was a copy editor at Thomson Reuters. Saumy earned his Bachelors Degree in Journalism & Mass Communication from the Manipal Institute of Communication at Manipal University. More articles from Saumy Prateek.
India's electricity spot price fell 3.5% MoM in August to INR3.34 ($0.05) per kWh. The Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) said all-India peak demand reached 170 GW on 10 August, a 0.9% MoM slip that was also seen in July. However, spot prices have risen 6.8% YoY due to heavy monsoon rains stoking demand. IEX’s day-ahead and term-ahead markets traded a combined four billion units in August, down 1% YoY.