Daily News Wrap-Up: BEE Notifies Draft Guidelines for RCO Compliance

Rajiv Kumar, CEO at Vedanta Aluminium, shared Vedanta’s sustainability goals

January 13, 2026

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The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) issued the draft operational procedure for designated consumers to comply with renewable consumption obligations (RCO). In September 2025, the Ministry of Power prescribed an RCO for designated consumers to achieve a 43.33% target by the financial year 2030. Designated consumers can meet the RCO targets through their own generation under captive mode, requisition from the distribution company, and consumption of power from a green hydrogen or green ammonia project.

Vedanta Aluminium, part of the Vedanta Group, is among the leading aluminum producers in India. Its refineries and smelters in Lanjigarh and Jharsuguda in Odisha, and Korba in Chhattisgarh, are increasing their use of renewable energy sources for operations. In an exclusive interview with Mercom India, Rajiv Kumar, CEO at Vedanta Aluminium, shared details about Vedanta’s sustainable energy practices, including the use of renewable energy in the energy-intensive aluminum production process.

The Central Transmission Utility of India issued an advisory clarifying the processing of applications for renewable energy generator connection details in line with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission’s General Network Access Regulations. The advisory addresses mismatches between installed capacity in simulation study models and the connectivity grant letters.

Rajasthan Solar Park Development Company (RSDCL) invited bids to set up 2,450 MW solar projects with 1,600 MW/6,400 MWh battery energy storage systems (BESS) for peak power supply at Pugal Solar Park in Bikaner, Rajasthan. RSDCL is a subsidiary of Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation. The interconnection point will be 33 kV bays of the pooling substations inside the Pugal Solar Park, where the power from the projects is injected into the allocated bays.

The Electricity Department of the Andaman & Nicobar Administration invited bids to develop a 20 MWh BESS project at Dollygunj in Sri Vijayapuram, Andaman. The project will be developed under the renewable energy service company model. The project will comprise two sub-systems, one with a rating of 4 MW/4 MWh and the other with a rating of 4 MW /16 MWh.

Public infrastructure finance company REC floated an expression of interest for participation in an Indian Energy Stack (IES) pilot focused on an interstate peer-to-peer energy trading use case. Participants can demonstrate their platform’s ability to deliver secure, interoperable integrations and conformance to the Application Programming Interface within a scalable, multi-stakeholder ecosystem. Participants can also contribute to a flagship IES use case.

State-owned Power Finance Corporation (PFC) launched Tranche I of its public issue of secured, listed, and redeemable non-convertible debentures, aiming to raise ₹50 billion (~$554.18 million) as part of its broader ₹100 billion (~$1.108 billion) shelf program. Under Tranche I, PFC plans to raise ₹5 billion (~$55.42 billion) as the base issue size, with a greenshoe option to retain oversubscription of up to ₹45 billion (~$498.76 million), taking the total issue size to ₹50 billion (~$554.18 million).

Germany-based global energy trading company Uniper Global Commodities signed a long-term binding offtake agreement with AM Green Ammonia to purchase 500,000 tons per annum of renewable fuel of non-biological origin (RFNBO)-certified green ammonia. RFNBO are synthetic liquid or gaseous fuels, such as synthetic liquid or gaseous fuels, made from renewable energy and captured carbon dioxide.

Gujarat-based solar module manufacturer Solex Energy secured a work order worth ₹2.76 billion (~$30.5 million) to supply 615 Wp N-type TOPCon and 620 Wp glass-to-glass solar modules from an independent power producer. The modules must be supplied by May 2026. In October 2025, Solex received a work order worth over ₹5.44 billion (~$61.33 million) from the Spain-based renewable energy project developer Zelestra Group to manufacture and supply N-Type TOPCon 615/620Wp glass-to-glass solar modules.

Saudi Arabia’s energy and infrastructure developer, Abunayyan Holding and U.S.-based Nextpower (formerly Nextracker), which specializes in solar tracking systems, have completed the process of the formal incorporation of their previously announced joint venture, Nextpower Arabia. The joint venture aims at accelerating the deployment of utility-scale solar power projects across the Middle East and North Africa region.

China will cancel value-added tax (VAT) export rebates for photovoltaic and other related products from April 1, 2026, the Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration have announced. The policy also targets battery exports. The authorities said the export VAT rebate rate for battery products will be reduced from 9% to 6% from April 1 to December 31, 2026. From January 1, 2027, export VAT rebates for battery products will be canceled.

Germany’s Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) awarded 3,456 MW of offshore wind capacity in its latest auction round, exceeding the originally tendered volume of 3,450 MW. The auction attracted strong interest from developers, with 905 bids submitted amounting to a combined capacity of 8,155 MW, more than twice the volume on offer.

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