The great solar(gold) rush moves to Tamil Nadu. The state, reeling under massive power cuts of upto 16 hours every day in many parts of the state caused by lack of enough generation capacity, has resorted to Solar in a big way.This most anticipated policy plans to achieve its targets of 3000 MW in 3 years through a mix of Solar Purchase Obligations, Generation Based Incentives(GBI) for rooftops and Renewable Energy Certificates(REC).In fact, this is the first policy in the country to announce net metering guidelines for feeding excess power to the grid from rooftops. The policy also does not have any domestic content requirement clause.
The policy can be downloaded here. Some of the highlights are below.
a. Total Target
| Phase(2013-2015) | Utility Scale(MW) | Rooftop PV(MW) | REC(MW) | Target(MW) |
| 2013 | 750 | 100 | 150 | 1000 |
| 2014 | 550 | 125 | 325 | 1000 |
| 2015 | 200 | 125 | 675 | 1000 |
| Total(by 2015) | 1500 | 350 | 1150 | 3000 |
b. Solar Purchase Obligations(RPO) – 6% for HT and LT Consumers
c. Rooftops
i. Domestic Generation Based Incentive – Target 50 MW
| Rooftop GBI | (for all projects commisioned before 31 March 2014) | ||||
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
| Rs. 2/kWh | Rs. 2/kWh | Rs. 1/kWh | Rs. 1/kWh | Rs. 0.5/kWh | Rs.0.5/kWh |
– A separate metering will be done for this segment.
ii. Rooftops in government buildings – All new government buildings to have rooftop pv systems.
d. Net metering and Power evacuation
Net metering will be implemented in residential and commercial establishments at various voltage levels. Projects to evacuate power at the following voltages
| Solar PV system size | Grid connected |
| <10 kWp | 240 V |
| 10 KWp to < 15 kWp | 240 V/415 V |
| 15 kWp to <50 kWp | 415 V |
| 50 kWp to <100 kWp | 415 V |
| >100 kWp | 11 kV |
e. Solar Parks
– Solar parks of the size 250 MW, 600 MW and 650 MW to be developed.
– Project allotment through competitive/reverse bidding along the line of the JNNSM reverse bidding.
f. Incentives for Manufacturing –
The policy talks about 1000 MW/year of solar PV manufacturing(including wafer, cell, module and Balance of System(BOS) components) and a polysilicon capacity of 10000 MT. The policy does not clearly specify how these targets will be achieved.
Some of the incentives mentioned are
i. Appropriate tax incentives for manufacturers
ii.Promotion of exclusive solar manufacturing parks, with preference given for establishing solar manufacturing industries in SEZs, Industrial estates, etc.
g. Water heating systems
– Public buildings and industries to have solar water heating systems installed.
More details to follow… Please come back to check our regular updates..
Update 1: The Hindu Business Line has a pretty good analysis about the positives and negatives of the policy. The same can be found here.
Update 2: Our take on the impact of the GBI on the rooftop PV from residential customer ‘s perspective can be found here.
Note : We have started a LinkedIn Forum for sharing news,insights and perspectives on solar specific to Tamil Nadu. The group is updated every day and several stakeholders have already joined the group. I invite you to join the group and share your views there. The link to the group is http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Tamil-Nadu-Solar-4681107
Hi Madhavan
On the table above, >100 kWp will be evacuated through 11 kV line and not 11 V line
Arun
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