CII calls for making Open Access almost free for EV Charging from renewable sources

Industry body CII on Monday called for making Open Access almost free for charging electric vehicles from green sources like solar and wind energy.

Open Access enables heavy users of more than 1 MW connected load to buy cheap power from the open market.

"The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has called for an early policy notification for facilitating the sourcing of power from green sources for charging of Electric Vehicles," the body said in a statement.

It explained that this is especially required at the standalone charging point level as currently, it is not feasible under the ambit of prevailing electricity regulation where a minimum of 1 MW load at the point of consumption is needed to avail power under Open Access.

No charging station would be requiring the power of this order (1 MW) at one location during the initial 10 years. It is, therefore, prudent to lower the threshold of open access for sourcing power from green sources like solar, it pointed out.

Industry bodies, including CII, have been seeking such policy measures, which were reflected in various state EV policies where they articulated for encouraging power supply through Open Access.

However, it said without having enabling rules framed under the statute, implementation would be difficult.

Taking cognizance of such need and demand, the Ministry of Power came out with a draft notification on August 16, 2021, titled "Draft Electricity (promoting renewable energy through Green Energy Open Access) Rules, 202", seeking comments from various stakeholders.

The draft rule provides for lowering the threshold for sourcing power from green sources to 100 KW. This is the need of the hour and would catapult the transition of the transportation ecosystem -- from fossil fuel to green electricity.

The CII urged the Power Ministry to finalise the rule as more than six months have elapsed. It would be one concrete step towards meeting the goal under the "Panchamrit declaration".