The government of Tamil Nadu, India, has committed to generate 3,000MW of solar power by 2015 (1,000MW per year) through its newly launched Solar Energy Policy 2012, according to reports.
The state intendes to reach grid parity by 2015 and has mandated a solar purchase obligation requiring residential, industrial and commercial buildings to source a minimum of 6% of their power from solar by January 2014, starting with 3% from December next year.
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All domestic consumers will be encouraged to put up rooftop solar installations with net metering facilities. A generation based incentive of Rs. 2 (US$0.04) per unit for first two years, Rs. 1 per unit for the next two years and Rs. 0.5 per unit for the subsequent two years will be provided for all solar or solar-wind hybrid rooftops being installed before March 31, 2014. A capacity target of 50MW has been set up under this scheme.
The Tamil Nadu government is also putting in motion a selection process for developers through tariff-based reverse/competitive bidding. The state is using Germany and Spain as a model for its system.
Investments through joint ventures between the state and public sector will also be encouraged at competitive tariffs and exempt from paying electricity tax.
Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) will be introduced to promote the trading of solar power to meet SPOs.
Tamil Nadu has one of the highest solar insolation rates in India with average solar incidence of 5.5-6 kWh/m2/day.
