We had earlier written about how the Tamil Nadu solar energy policy is a game changer for demand in India. TN has become the second state in India after Gujarat, to really push for solar energy growth. The state has set a target of 1 GW each year with most of the funding to be done by industries and institutions. The government has mandated that 6% of the power requirements by industries has to be met from solar power (either credits or self generation). With TN seeing massive power cuts, this policy made a lot of sense economically, given that the state already has a huge amount of wind capacity and the nuclear reactor has been mired in controversy. With little in terms of coal and gas, TN has no option but to go solar in the future.
Daimler Benz has been one of the first companies off the block by installing a 300 Kw solar system at its manufacturing plant in TN. The company plans to add capacity to the system going forward, as it looks to meet the solar mandate of the government. Read more about the TN solar policy:
Tamil Nadu Solar Energy Policy Review and Analysis
Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt. Ltd has set up its first solar power facility within its 400-acre plant at Oragadam, investing about Rs4 crore to comply with a new state regulation.
Daimler, which makes the Bharat Benz brand of trucks, has installed a capacity of 300 kilo watts at its parts logistics warehouse, the company said on Monday.
The power produced will be adjusted against the solar purchase obligations, which the Tamil Nadu government made mandatory in October.
Industries in Tamil Nadu look to install Solar Panels
Industries in Tamil Nadu are looking to invest in solar panel arrays for their factories and offices as the Government has made it mandatory for HT customers to buy/generate solar power for 3% of their requirements in 2013 which will go up to 6% by 2016. While some companies are complaining about the high cost of solar energy installations, some foreign auto majors like Nissan, Daimler have started to invest in solar panels. Note for some companies solar energy makes sense given the massive power cuts being seen in TN. Besides installing solar panels gives green brownie points to these companies which are major polluters, courtesy their carbon emitting products. Daimler Chrysler is planning to use solar modules to power its logistics warehouse which is coming up in TN while Nissan Renault plans to use solar heater and solar panels to supply energy to its offices.
Solar Parks Boom in Tamil Nadu
The concept of solar parks was started in India by the Gujarat government where land, infrastructure and electricity transmission is established in one place making it easy for solar developers to set up megawatt scale solar energy plants. This has been copied by Rajasthan and now by Tamil Nadu as well. The 6% SPO for industrial customers in power deficient TN is driving huge investor interest in solar energy in the state. Some big investments in solar farms have already been announced and more such solar parks are being planned.
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