Solar developers make a beeline for TN

CHENNAI, NOV. 5: 

Good sunshine and chronic power shortage always made Tamil Nadu an attractive investment destination for solar power developers. Now, the State’s solar policy has further sweetened the deal by imposing an obligation on certain classes of power consumers to buy a chunk of solar power.

Industrial consumers, frustrated by long hours of power outage, are now “taking solar very seriously,” says Pasupathy Gopalan, Managing Director of SunEdison, an American.

SunEdison is among the companies that are keen on developing solar projects in the State Most developers prefer to sell power directly to industrial consumers, who luckily for them are mandated to buy solar power under the State-imposed solar purchase obligations. Only NanoPV-Voltech, perhaps because the Indian partner already has business links with Tangedco.

UN-REMUNERATIVE TARIFF

Zynergy’s Managing Director & CEO Rohit Rabindernath finds tariff discovered through ‘reverse bidding’ un-remunerative. Selling to the utility at the ‘average pooled purchase cost’ (Rs 2.54 in Tamil Nadu) and getting tradable renewable energy certificates (RECs) is also not an option for him because no banker recognises REC income.

Further, selling power to Tangedco would call for some kind of payment security mechanism. Otherwise given the payment track record of the utility, no banker will lend on the basis of a PPA with Tangedco, developers say.

LUCRATIVE

Selling power to paying consumers is more lucrative. Zynergy for one is confident of getting tariffs of Rs 9 and above — any income from RECs would be shared with the customer.

These project developers also have some common concerns. The first is about the enforcing solar purchase obligations, for, unless the obligations are fulfilled there would be no RECs.

The second concern is the cross-subsidy charges in Tamil Nadu (Rs 2.07 a unit for an industrial consumer and Rs 3.28 for a commercial establishment), which are levied when a generator sells power directly to a consumer.

Unless exempted from ‘cross-subsidy charges’, developers will have to get into the ‘group captive’ model to avoid the levy. This entails forming a separate company with power purchasers as shareholders. This model is messy and expensive because you need to incorporate separate companies for various projects and customers will have to invest in the equity.

However, many developers seem to be confident that the Tamil Nadu Government will exempt solar power from cross-subsidy levy.

Land availability seems not to be a big deal (unlike, say, in Rajasthan, where land ceiling law is a hurdle). In the last two decades, the wind industry has spawned a number of ‘infrastructure developers’ in the State who provide the service of buying land, organising grid connection and dealing with the local people and panchayats.

Finance, on the other hand, is seen as a challenge. Raising equity is no problem, but securing debt requires working on.

Solar developers believe that the State Government can do something here, perhaps have Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation provide easy loans.

Web portal on Indian solar market launched

India and Germany today launched a web portal to provide information to industry about opportunities in the Indian solar market.

The website, www.solarguidelines.in, has been developed to facilitate dissemination of information to project developers and other stakeholders on the solar market.

New and renewable energy minister Farooq Abdullah and deputy chief of the German mission Cord Meier-Klodt launched the "solar guidelines", a web-based platform.

The information on the portal envisages enabling investment and rapid development of the solar sector.

Klodt said: "Both India and Germany have to master equally ambitious challenges in their energy sectors in the years ahead.

"This is why we wish to join hands with our Indian partners in order to benefit from each other's experience, jointly seek state-of-the-art responses to those huge challenges and do business together," he said.

Tamil Nadu colleges all set to tap solar energy

CHENNAI: From powering street lamps in colleges and water heating systems in hostels to lights and fans in classrooms, solar energy is the new kid on campus in Tamil Nadu. 

In its solar policy, the state government imposes a solar purchase obligation (SPO) on colleges, mandating them to meet 6% of their power usage from solar energy, and colleges are getting down to business. 

Going by the policy, commercial establishments, colleges, government buildings, residential schools, IT parks, industries, and buildings with a built-up area of 20,000sqm come under this obligation. They can meet this by generating their own power, purchasing solar power from the state electricity board, or purchasing power from private power producers. 

"Colleges have vast expanses of land to put up solar panels. They are eligible for tax benefits. It also helps to avoid technical problems relating to transmission of power from plants to the college," said Vineeth Vijayaraghavan, an industry expert . 

Vellore-based VIT University is going beyond the 6% obligation and is planning to source solar power for 30% of its needs. The college currently uses diesel gensets for 30% of its needs and is looking to replace this with wind and solar energy. "We have a four-acre lake inside our campus and will be putting up photovoltaic modules over the lake for 2MW, replicating Gujarat's set up over the Narmada River," said founder and chancellor of VIT University G Viswanathan. The college will also have an in-house 3MW solar power plant and is negotiating with a few companies to set up the plants. 

Apart from setting up roof-top systems, Chennai-based Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering(SVCE) is planning to tap solar energy for street lighting on campus. "We had done a pilot project earlier and will expand this to other areas in phases," said college principal M Sivanandham. The college is planning to invest about Rs 7 lakh in the first phase. 

Captive consumption saves colleges from wasting power, and thereby, funds. "Setting up an off-grid roof-top system in the college will save about 8% of the power they buy from the grid. The power generated can be used for captive consumption and energy isn't wasted. Even during holidays when power usage is low, the mandated 6% will be required for basic activities in the college and the college can use its own power," an expert said. 

On the educational side, colleges will benefit as students will learn about solar energy. "Several PG students work on simulated solar projects using fictional data for their research. Having roof-top systems gives students the opportunity to work on real-time projects," Vijayaraghavan said. At SVCE, for instance, the solar street lighting project was done by students of electrical engineering, and the college will get students of other departments to work on such projects, Sivanandham said.

Spanish company Gestamp to put up 100 MW solar plant in TN

CHENNAI, NOV 2: 

Spanish engineering and renewables major Gestamp intends to put up a 100 MW solar photovoltaic project in Tamil Nadu, but in phases.

Southern Solar Pvt Ltd, a joint venture of Gestamp and Chennai-based Zynergy group, will put up the first 25 MW by March. Gestamp has 70 per cent stake in the joint venture. (Typically, a solar project calls for an investment of Rs 9 crore per MW.)

The joint venture has acquired 500 acres in Madurai and Ramnad districts, Rohit Rabindernath, Group MD and CEO, Zynergy, told Business Line on Thursday.

Rabindernath said that Southern Solar would prefer to sell the power it generates to industrial consumers directly.

It has signed MoUs with potential buyers for selling power from 10 MW of capacity and is in the process of negotiating the power purchase agreements with them. He said he is confident of being able to firm up PPAs for 25 MW soon, and hence the initial phase of the project would be for that capacity.

He said that evacuation of power would not be a problem because “luckily for us” there is no transmission constraints in the areas Southern Solar would put up its projects.

On the tariffs that the Southern Solar would sell electricity at, Rabindernath said that industrial consumers were fine with paying Rs 9 and above per unit. Anything less would not make economic sense for the project developers. Any benefits that Southern Solar would get from trading in the renewable energy certificates could be shared with the buyer of the electricity.

Southern Solar would not be interested in ‘reverse bidding’ projects, where the tariffs are determined in a bid process, and are often as low as around Rs 8.

Solar City project back on track

A Union government project to make Thiruvananthapuram a ‘Solar City’ is showing signs of revival. The project lay dormant for two years, until the last Corporation Council meeting.

The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had decided to make Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi ‘Solar Cities’ under the 11th Five Year Plan.

The council meeting adopted a resolution to formulate a Solar City Cell and a Stakeholder Committee, essential prerequisites for the project as underlined in the Ministry guidelines.

The Solar or Green City programme lays emphasis on decentralisation and garnering the support of local self-governments for planning and identifying what systems can be most effectively implemented to reduce electricity consumption. “In the long-term, this is to be an extensive project and the design of the master plan will be taken up initially. ANERT is the State nodal agency and funds for the project will be acquired through it from the Union government,” Works standing committee chairperson V.S. Padmakumar said.

The Ministry guidelines stipulate that an amount of Rs.50 lakh will be provided for each town, including that for the preparation of the master plan.

As per information provided by the Corporation, the Stakeholder Committee will include Corporation officials, including the Health Officer and executive engineers, and representatives of ANERT, Pollution Control Board and Kerala State Electricity Board, among other organisations.

The responsibilities of the respective local civic body include amending building by-laws for making the use of solar water heating systems mandatory in certain categories of buildings, provide rebate in property tax, and organise “rigorous publicity.”

T. Valsaraj, Director of ANERT, said the prime focus of the newly formed committees was to create an information regime, entailing widespread publicity and awareness projects on energy conservation.

He said ANERT would associate with municipalities in every district for setting up solar-powered street lamps. “Tenders have been floated and a technical evaluation is currently under way,” Mr. Valsaraj said.

Belgian firm Enfinity plans 100 MW solar park near Coimbatore

CHENNAI, OCTOBER 26: 

Enfinity Solar Solutions Pvt Ltd, a Belgian company, intends to promote a 100 MW solar park in the Coimbatore district. Enfinity’s Managing Director, Guy Baeyens, told Business Line today that the company has two key elements in place – land and approvals for linking to grid.

Baeyens, who believes that the recently-announced Tamil Nadu Solar Policy will help populate the park with developers, said that having land and approvals in hand was a big time saver for those who would put up projects in the park. Enfinity on its own intends to put up a 15 MW solar plant in the proposed park. (A solar power plant typically costs about Rs 9 crore a MW.)

The required land is registered in the name of a Coimbatore-based business house with whom Enfinity is on the verge of entering into a joint venture. Baeyens did not wish to disclose the name of the partner.

For its own project, Enfinity has both equity and debt financing in place. Debt, on non-recourse basis, is from overseas lenders. Baeyens said that Enfinity could help developers in the park raise debt funds abroad.

Enfinity owns 390 MW of solar capacity in Europe-both utility scale and rooftop plants, not counting plants that it built and sold off. In India, the company has so far built plants of a total capacity of 21 MW, for a number of clients including Welspun.

No to thin films

Enfinity will not use solar panels made with the ‘thin film’ technology. This is because, while it is true that thin film modules generate more electricity in hot climatic conditions such as in India, they suffer from ‘thermal breakage’. The modules break in hot summers.

The module manufacturer may replace the modules, but there will be disruption in generation, Baeyens observed.

He said that thin film modules were yet not proven for their long term performance. In contrast, crystalline silicon has performed well for over 35 years, he said.

Rooftops

Enfinity is also offering its services for putting up rooftop solar plants. Baeyens said that the company had rich experience in building rooftop plants in Europe.

Typically, a grid-connected rooftop plant will switch off when the grid power fails. Therefore, the customer does not get solar power when he needs it the most, i.e., when he does not get grid power. However, Enfinity has a technology that will allow the rooftop plant to continue to generate power even if the grid goes off. This is also without the aid of batteries, Baeyens said.

RPower’s solar unit produces 30 million units

The 40 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant of Reliance Power in Rajasthan has generated over 30 million units of solar power in the first six months of the current financial year, company officials said.

Confirming this, a company spokesman said that the project benefited from delayed monsoon this year, and its location advantage in Rajasthan.

The unit is located in Dhursar, Pokaran in Rajasthan and was constructed in record 129 days. Since commissioning, the plant generated 3.0378 crore kW/hr of energy.

Solar modules

According to company officials, the higher generation was on account of the plant using thin film solar modules which are highly suitable for hot areas like Rajasthan.

Apart from this, the location of the plant is in one of the highest sun irradiance areas in India. With the absence of sand dunes in surrounding areas, the loss on account of soiling is lower.

It was set up with an investment of Rs.700 crore.