CERC by its order dated October 14, 2016 has rejected NTPC's
prayer to grant a separate trading licence, however, it has allowed
NTPC to utilize the trading licence already granted to its wholly
owned subsidiary – NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited. Set out
below is a summary of the order, our analysis and observations on
the same.
Brief Background
NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN) was designated as the
nodal agency since 2010 under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar
Mission (JNNSM), now called as National Solar Mission (NSM), for
buying power from solar power developers, bundling it with cheaper
thermal power from power plants of National Thermal Power
Corporation Limited (NTPC) and then selling such bundled power to
various discoms. Subsequently, Solar Energy Corporation of India
(SECI) was also involved as the designated agency by the Ministry
of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for implementation of a number
of its schemes including the VGF schemes for
