Indian Energy Exchange's trade volume falls 7% to 8,452 mn units in Dec

The Indian Energy Exchange's total trade volume in December 2022 dipped 7 per cent to 8,452 million units as compared to the year-ago period mainly due to higher average spot price of electricity and lower trading of renewable energy certificates.

"The overall volume on the exchange in December 2022 increased 9 per cent on a MoM basis. However, it declined by 7 per cent on YoY basis due to high REC (renewable energy certificates) traded volumes of 13.85 lakh in (December 2021) the previous year," an IEX statement said.

The IEX total trade volume in December 2021 was 9,035 million units (MU).

The IEX achieved 8,452 MU total volume in December 2022, including green power trade of 377 MU, and 4.87 lakh RECs (equivalent to 487 MU), it stated.

The total electricity volume on the exchange last month was 7,964 MU, a rise of 8 per cent as compared to November 2022 and 4 per cent as compared to the year-ago period, it stated.

For the third quarter (October-December 2022) of the ongoing fiscal year, IEX recorded 24.2 BU (billion units) volume and achieved 5 per cent month-on-month (MoM) growth across all its market segments, it stated.

Continuing high spot e-auction coal prices and supply side constraints led to the average clearing price in the day-ahead market rising to Rs 5.23 in December, which was 48 per cent higher year-on-year(YoY), it stated.

Improving coal inventory at power plants is expected to result in lower clearing price on the exchange and is expected to provide further cost optimisation opportunities to discoms and open access consumers, resulting in higher volumes on the exchange, it explained.

The Day-Ahead Market (DAM) volume decreased from 5,087 MU in November 2022 to 5,001 MU in December. The DAM volume was lower by 8 per cent on YoY basis due to high prices resulting from a constrained supply scenario.

The Real-Time Electricity Market achieved 1,763 MU volume during the month, registering 25 per cent MoM and 17 per cent YoY growth.

A total of 4.87 lakh RECs were cleared in the trading session at IEX held on December 28, 2022 as compared to 13.85 lakh RECs in December 2021.