Towards a thriving power market in India | Episode 22

Since 2003 when the electricity market in India opened up to private investment, variety of market mechanisms also came up along with it. Long term power purchase agreements have been backbone of power supply in the country. But other short and medium terms contracts have helped meeting sudden demand surge, acted as bridge supply and lately given sale options for renewable energy. Similar contracts have now emerged in the Gas market as well. To understand how the Indian energy trading market works, how it can be made more efficient and real-time, we talked with Rajesh K Mediratta. Mediratta is a sector veteran and has worked with Load Despatch Centres, power system operator and has been instrumental in launching India's first electricity trading platform -  Indian Electricity Exchange. He is currently MD and CEO, Indian Gas Exchange. Timestamp: 0:00 - Podcast intro 0:50 - About RK Mediratta and his professional journey 17:50 - Journey of India’s Electricity trading market 30:25 - Typical contracts that the power exchanges offer in India and how the price discovery mechanism works 33:37 - Level of intervention by the platform in price discovery 36:46 - Convincing discoms to come on exchanges - Allegations of windfall gain during times of electricity supply shortage. 44:47 - How do other electricity markets in Europe function 50:50 - How does Gas exchange function in India? 57:15 - Will gas exchange act as a bridge fuel and help the Indian electricity market in any way? Can both exist in sync? 1:00:15 - Possibility of coal trading in India 1:04:33 - What kind of role can electricity exchange play in the energy transition in India? 1:08:16 - What is the next big thing that the Indian energy market will witness? 1:10:55 - Podcast outro Follow TIEH podcast on Twitter, Linkedin and YouTube.