Tamil Nadu Solar – Good news at last?

Last week, Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Company (Tangedco) held extensive meetings with solar project developers in Tamil Nadu who have been issued LOI. The result of the meetings has been that the Power Purchase Agreements(PPA) between the developers and Tangedco is likely to be signed before end of October 2o13 and the work project execution could start subsequently. According to The Hindu Businessline and the Times of India, PPAs will be signed for about 700 MW and all of them are likely to be commissioned by end of the Financial Year 2013-14(March 2014).
As we reported from RE Expo last week, the “ lack of visibility of projects”  has been cited by the top CEOs as the biggest probelm the Indian solar sector is facing today(read more here). RESolve is glad that the state solar policy is finally gaining some momentum. Our view as quoted in Times of India is as follows.
“There has been a lot of uncertainty over solar power companies and negativity had set in. But now there are projects in the pipeline and activity for players across the board will go up,”
This does not mean that the days ahead will be easy. Several new issues might crop up and we are keeping our fingers crossed, with cautious optimism.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Subscribe to RESolve Energy Consultants : Perspectives and Insights by Email
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

8 thoughts on “Tamil Nadu Solar – Good news at last?”

  1. Madhavan,
    Do you think Rs 6.49 per unit is reasonable price as quoted by Tangedco?Do you think developers would be interested at such a rate?

  2. Madhavan,
    with 5% escalation for 10 years,levelized tariff comes around Rs 6.9/kWh.Is this attractive enough ?

    1. Sudarsan,
      The PPA is for 20 years and the escalation is available for the first 10 years. Under these conditions, the levelized tariff should be above Rs.7/kWh. Can you share how you arrived at Rs.6.9/kWh?
      Is it attractive?It is a question developers have to answer. A majority of them are going ahead with their projects at this tariff and some of them have dropped out. Naturally a lot of them are ok with this tariff.
      Madhavan

  3. pramod ranjan arora

    In India progress of solar projects is very slow and disappointing. It is great concern for industry. The rates could have come down if the progress of incoming projects are fast. Government need to concentrate on rooftop solar PV for fast development and involve the masses

  4. Hi Sir,
    Considering the market status now in Tamil Nadu,The Roof Top sector is drastically reduced compared to that or 2012. I myself has seen lot of small scale developers disappearing due to the fact that their target market is completely shaken & there are no signs of market revival or that’s what they say. Its interesting to see the term “lack of visibility of projects” & that is exactly what is happening here.
    From your point of view where does Tamil Nadu stand in rooftop sector in 2014 & Will we (small scale developers) be seeing a brighter future?

    1. Dear Gokula Krishnan,
      I concur with your views. 2013 has been a year when the solar sector(utility scale, rooftop, off-grid) that came to a standstill. I do not expect the market to revive at least in the first half of 2014.
      Madhavan

Comments are closed.