The national and state governments in India both have the power to legislate on electricity supply (except for nuclear power, which is in the domain of the national government.)
Main authorities
- Renewable energy is promoted by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the central authority for all policies, regulations and approvals relating to renewable energy.
- It is supported by the Ministry of Power and the Central and State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (CERC and SERCs). CERC deals with the national grid and inter-state transfer/trading of power, while SERCs manage regional distribution and transmissions. They play a key role in the promotion of renewable energy as they have the sole authority to ascertain the feed-in tariffs and other policy matters, such as the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).
- Energy Development Agencies (EDAs) represent the MNRE at the state level. Their main purpose is to assess and promote renewable energy frameworks for individual states, and to advise the MNRE, state governments and SERCs.
- The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) promotes financial assistance for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in India.
Secondary stakeholders
- The Ministry of Finance (MoF) controls the government’s budget.
- The Planning Commission is responsible for balancing specific policies and objectives against national priorities and resources. This includes allocating funds to policies such as Generation-Based Initiatives.
- The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) manages environmental (and forestry) programmes. The use of forest land for wind energy projects has to be approved by the MoEF.