MERIT (Merit Order Despatch of Electricity for Rejuvenation of Income and Transparency)

• A web portal- MERIT (Merit Order Despatch of Electricity for Rejuvenation of Income and Transparency) was launched by the Ministry of Power.

The Portal provides the following information:

• Regional Weather Summary: This provides Weather Outlook for the Region for the current day and upto next 7 days. Weather stations of Meteorological department have been mapped to the nearest important Electrical Station/ Power Stations in each State.
• Radar: The Doppler Weather Radar generates different displays and derived products of practical utility based on standard algorithms. These displays are updated every 10 minutes.
• Satellite Images: INSAT 3D is being used to monitor the Weather of Indian Origin. The image is updated every 30 minutes.
• Meteogram- The Meteogram at Web-Portal provides plots for Meteorological variables such as Rainfall, Cloud Cover, Temperature, Humidity, Wind, Speed, Sea Level Pressure, Indices for Thunderstorm etc. for 10 days with a resolution time of three hours. Each Meteogram provides information for the 10 km radius.
• Region Specific Forecast - Fog Forecast, Metar, Bay Bulletin, Coastal Area Bulletin, Cyclone, Port Warning etc.

The advantages of “Merit” Portal are as follows:

• Empowerment of the Consumer and participative governance
• Transparent information dissemination pertaining to marginal variable cost and source wise purchase of electricity
• Promotes economy and efficiency in operations
• Demystifies the utility portfolio and its complexity
• Optimization of the power procurement costs
• Facilitates renewable integration and handling of the variability and uncertainty of renewables
• Indication of supply side reliability, adequacy, and cost of power procurement

By: Vishal