Tamil Nadu is the southern-most state of India. Along with Kerala, it is closest to the equator and hence enjoys high solar insulation/irradiation levels. Tamil Nadu generally gets more than 300 clear sunny days (on an average) every year and has large tracts of land (a good percentage of them being close to cities/towns) that can be developed for solar projects. Tamil Nadu has many large cities/towns and the state focuses on even development across its urban and rural areas, instead of focusing just on development for its cities. Chennai, the capital city of TN is one of the four metro cities in India.
The current power situation in Tamil Nadu (which has a large industrial belt spread all over the state) is quite grim, especially beyond Chennai. This is both a problem as well as an opportunity for investors who wish to invest in clean/renewable energy in the state. There are power plants being built in order to compensate for the ever-growing electricity demand, but the state requires a lot more power. Hence, the Tamil Nadu Government has recently announced the Tamil Nadu Solar Energy Policy 2012 (pdf). You can read through the whole document, but the highlights of the policy are given below.
This is an excellent initiative by the Tamil Nadu Government which is much-needed, given the current power situation. This scheme provides a good opportunity for consumers to generate their own power through solar technologies and for investors to set-up utility-scale solar parks and manufacturing facilities.
The days of cribbing over hot, bright and sunny days are over. Now the people may want the sun to shine even more!
- Tamil Nadu is already a leader in wind energy generation. The state has an installed capacity of 6,970 MW of wind power as of 31st March 2012. To encourage new Solar Energy projects, the state authorities have formulated the Solar Power Policy 2012. Tamil Nadu hopes that through this policy, it will be able to recreate the huge success it achieved with wind energy generation projects and rain water harvesting program.
- Tamil Nadu is targeting 3000 MW of new Solar Power projects by 2015. They have set a target of 1000 MW for each year (2013-2015) and hope that the new solar energy projects will help India achieve its national target of 22 GW of new solar power projects, as per the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission.
- The Government of Tamil Nadu has introduced a Solar Purchase Obligation (SPO) requirement. According to the SPO, the Government has mandated HT Consumers (HT Tariff I to V) to produce or procure 6% of its energy requirements through Solar Power. If these consumers are not able to produce their power using solar technologies, they need to buy an equivalent amount of SPO or REC (Renewable Energy Certificates) from Solar Power developers. They can also buy power from TANGEDCO at solar tariffs.
- A new Generation-based Incentive (equivalent to Feed In Tariff) has been initiated in order to encourage domestic/institutional customers to produce their own power using solar panels and other solar technologies. For domestic solar/solar-wind hybrid systems installed before April 2014, the Government will provide a Generation Based Incentive of Rs. 2/unit, Rs. 1/unit, Rs. 0.5 per unit (2 years each) for electricity generated using solar technologies.
- The Government departments, street lights, green housing schemes, etc. will all get a portion of their power from solar technologies and this will be implemented over the next three years.
- Installation and usage of solar water heating systems has been mandated for all new public buildings (like marriage halls, hotels, etc.) and industries utilizing hot-water boilers/steam boilers.
- Utility-scale solar power parks with a capacity of 50 MW (in each of its 24 districts) will be developed through competitive/reverse bidding process.
- TEDA will be the single-window agency that will handle the various clearances required for solar power parks, from other state departments/agencies.
- Tax incentives/concessions (as per TN Industrial Policy) will be provided to manufacturers who wish to set-up solar industries/manufacturing facilities. They will also get preference for space/facilities in industrial estates/SEZ, etc., subject to availability.
- A net-metering scheme will be provided to encourage roof-top solar technology installations for both institutional and residential consumers producing their own power. They will get power-credits for exporting solar generated power back to the grid.
This is an excellent initiative by the Tamil Nadu Government which is much-needed, given the current power situation. This scheme provides a good opportunity for consumers to generate their own power through solar technologies and for investors to set-up utility-scale solar parks and manufacturing facilities.
The days of cribbing over hot, bright and sunny days are over. Now the people may want the sun to shine even more!
