The Ministry of Power (MoP) has finalised a revised structure of day-ahead national level merit order despatch mechanism with a view to lower the overall cost of electricity generation, which will translate into lower electricity prices for consumers.
As per the revised mechanism, the merit order for cheapest generating resources across the country to meet the system demand would be finalised a day in advance as against 1.5 hours in the existing system. This will result in better planning for generating units and cost optimisation. It will also enlarge the scope of present mechanism by including all the regional entity thermal power plants and subsequently all the intra-state thermal generators. The gains out of the proposed day-ahead national merit order despatch mechanism would be shared between generating stations and their consumers. It will be implemented by Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and operated by GRID –INDIA at national level. Notably, in the existing mechanism of merit order despatch at real time made operational in April 2019, only NTPC Limited’s thermal stations were part of the merit order despatch.