

Mint Explainer | Why power prices on Indian exchanges are crashing to zero despite record demand
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: Even as India braces for record electricity demand this summer, power prices on exchanges recently slumped to zero in multiple trading sessions. The sharp fall has highlighted a growing challenge for India’s power sector: managing rising solar generation in the absence of adequate storage capacity.The trend has implications for renewable energy developers, power distribution companies and grid managers.
Mint explains.Power prices on the real-time market (RTM) of the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) hit zero for the first time on 1 May. Prices had earlier fallen close to zero on several occasions over the past year, including on 25 April this year.
After 1 May, prices again touched zero on 15 May.While such instances are still uncommon, the frequency of extremely low prices has increased in recent months. Even when prices have not fallen to zero, they have dropped below ₹1 per unit on multiple occasions.The biggest reason is a surge in solar power generation during daytime hours, when supply is often far higher than demand.India’s installed solar capacity has risen sharply over the past few years and currently stands at 154.23 GW.
However, battery and energy storage capacity has not expanded at the same pace, limiting the ability to store excess daytime power for later use.Renewable energy projects are also classified as “must-run” projects, meaning their power cannot usually be curtailed except for grid security or safety reasons. At the same time, weaker demand due to milder weather or lower industrial consumption can further widen the mismatch between supply and demand, pushing exchange prices sharply lower.When prices fall to zero, generators effectively earn no revenue for
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