The Hindu 03.05.2011
Policy to promote solar power projects soon
KREDL has drafted the solar power policy
Solar energy initiatives may get a big boost in the State with the
Government proposing to introduce a solar policy, a step described to go
a long way in promoting solar power generation.
With Karnataka having potential to harness solar energy
to meet its energy requirement, Karnataka Renewable Energy Development
Limited (KREDL) has drafted the solar policy to encourage solar power
projects and invited suggestions/objections to the draft policy it has
posted on its website.
KREDL will be the nodal agency for facilitating and implementing the solar policy.
According to KREDL, Karnataka Electricity Regulatory
Commission (KERC) has issued regulations to ensure that 0.25 per cent of
the power consumed was from solar resources. Moreover, the Union
Government has decided that 0.25 per cent of energy consumption should
be from solar resources, which would go up to 3 per cent by 2022.
Also, under the Karnataka Renewable Energy Policy, the
State has been given a target of achieving 126 MW of solar power
(including the power that the State is expected to get under the
Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission-JNNSM) by 2013-2014, according
to the draft policy.
Therefore, the Government has proposed to have a solar
policy which, according to KREDL, will be in force for five years from
2011-12 to 2015-2016. The Government, according to the draft policy,
intends to bring the policy into effect on June 1, 2011. The policy will
remain in force till March 31, 2016.
KREDL has invited suggestions and objections to the
draft policy and they, if any, can be sent to the managing director,
KREDL, 39, Shantigruha, Bharat Scouts and Guides Premises, Palace Road,
Bangalore, or the deputy secretary, Energy Department, 2nd Floor, Vikasa
Soudha, Bangalore, before May 16. A committee headed by the additional
chief secretary/secretary, Energy Department, shall approve the solar
energy projects under the policy.
The deputy secretary, Energy Department, will be the
member convener while the principal secretary/secretary, Revenue
Department; the principal secretary/secretary, Water Resources
Department; the principal secretary/secretary, Forest, Ecology and
Environment Department; the managing director, KREDL; the chief
conservator of forests (forest conservation), Karnataka; the director
(technical), KPCL; the director (transmission), KPTCL, shall be the
members of the committee.
As per the draft policy, the State has proposed to
generate 200 MW of solar power by 2015-16 for the procurement by the
electricity supply companies. This will be in addition to the allotment
received under JNNSM. Under the policy, the minimum capacity of single
solar power generating unit shall be 5 MW each and the maximum unit
shall be 10 MW (both in respect of solar photo voltaic and solar
thermal).
The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has asked
the States to persuade the people and the local bodies to adopt
renewable energy so that dependence on conventional energy is reduced.
They have been told to use solar water-heating systems, solar
home-lighting systems, solar streetlight control systems, power projects
based on urban waste and bio-mass gasification, among others, to save
energy.
The Ministry has also proposed an ambitious programme,
“Development of Solar Cities”, to promote the use of renewable energy in
urban areas by providing support to urban local bodies for the
preparation and implementation of a roadmap to develop “solar cities”.
Nearly 60 cities in the country have been identified to be made solar
cities by 2012. Mysore and Hubli-Dharwad are the two cities in the
State.