JUDGMENT

PER HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN, CHAIRPERSON I.INTRODUCTION:

Greenhouse gas emissions, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, are largely responsible for rising temperatures as they produce nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide, and carbon dioxide, all of which contribute to air and water pollution, causing irreparable damage to the environment. Renewable energy, commonly referred to as green energy, is generated through processes that cause far less pollution to the environment. The contribution of electricity, generated from renewable sources of energy, to climate change is minimal as such generation involves a far lower risk of fossil fuel and greenhouse gas emissions.

The Appellant owns and operates a 323 MW captive generating plant, of which 258 MW is captive co-generation (based on waste heat recovery, blast furnace gas, TRI & DRT), and the remaining 65 MW is a coal-based captive generating plant. They invoked the jurisdiction of the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (“OERC” for short), under Regulations 16, 17 and 20 of the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (Procurement of Energy from Renewable Sources and its Compliance) Regulations, 2021, seeking a declaration and exemption that they were not an ‘obligated entity’, and were thereby not required to fulfil the RPO targets in relation to their Meramundali Unit for the period FY 2021 onwards, and for future periods, as long as generation from their Captive Co-Generation Plant/Unit at Meramundali was in excess of their presumptive RPO requirements for the same period; to hold and declare that their Meramandli unit of 258 MW, being a captive co-generator of electricity, is exempt from fulfilling its Renewable Purchase Obligations (“RPOs”) from 2021 onwards under the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (Procurement of Energy from Renewable Sources and its Compliance) Regulations, 2021 (“2021 RPO Regulations”); and to declare that they were entitled to set-off their presumptive RPO targets qua the consumption from the 65 MW fossil- due based captive generating plant, against the electricity generated and consumed from their captive co-generation plants irrespective of the fuel utilized in such plants.

By the Impugned Order dated 01.02.2023, in Case No. 71 of 2022, (the contents of which shall be detailed later in this Order), the OERC disallowed the Appellant’s prayers. Consequently, the Appellant was fastened with the liability of RPOs under Regulation 4.2 of the 2021 RPO Regulations qua consumption from their 323 MW Captive Generating Plant (which included 258 MW of captive co-generation) with RPOs with effect from the date of notification of the 2021 Regulations, i.e from 15.02.2022. However, the OERC granted the Appellant exemption from fulfilment of RPOs for consumption from their 258 MW captive co-generation plant for the period 2015 onwards under the OERC (Procurement of Energy from Renewable Sources and its Compliances) Regulations, 2015 (“2015 RPO Regulations”). Exemption was granted in view of the earlier exemption granted to the Appellant’s Kalinganagar unit by the Respondent Commission’s order dated

08.12.2020 in Case No. 66/2019; and exemption was also granted to the Kalinganagar units under the 2015 RPO Regulations.

II.IMPUGNED ORDER: ITS CONTENTS:

In its order, in “M/s Tata Steel Ltd vs OREDA & Others” (Order in Case No. 71 of 2022 dated 01.02.2023), the OERC observed that the petition was filed by the petitioner-M/s Tala Steel Ltd., the owner of a Captive Generation Plant, to relax and/or remove difficulties under Regulations 16, 17 & 20 of the OERC (Procurement of Energy from Renewable Sources and its Compliance) Regulations, 2021 (“ 2021 RPO Regulations”); they had prayed to declare that (a) the Petitioner’s Meramundali Unit of 258 MW, being a captive co-generator of electricity, was not required to fulfil its RPOs from FY 2021 onwards, and even for subsequent years, as long as the co-generation was in excess of the presumptive RP