The Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA) is inviting comments and inputs for its Draft Tamilnadu Solar Energy Policy-2018 under which it has set a target of 8,884 MW by the year 2022, when the Government of India wants to achieve an installed capacity of 100 GW of solar power.
Out of this target, it aims to procure 40% or 3,553 MW of capacity through consumer scale rooftop solar systems. All public buildings will be required to meet 30% of their energy requirements from solar energy by 2022. The 30% requirement will also be imposed upon streetlights and water supply installations of corporations, municipalities and local urban bodies. From April 2019, all new service connection meters in the state will be configured for bidirectional energy recording and display.
Under the policy, all state government departments will need to replace 10% of their existing vehicle fleet with solar powered electric vehicles.
To encourage further deployment of solar, the government plans to exempt solar energy from electricity tax, grid connectivity, open access, wheeling and banking and cross-subsidy charges. Incentives may also be extended to farmers who use solar power. Through this policy, TEDA says it wants to create a framework that enables an accelerated development of solar energy in the state.
The government is keen to promote manufacturing of solar cells, inverters, mounting structures, batteries, etc., for which it will identify land and ensure a single window process for all departmental approvals that will be time-bound.
TEDA will be accepting comments on the draft policy till October 15, 2018. The detailed draft is available on the website of TEDA.