India has set a target to increase the share of solar energy in the country’s total energy consumption to 8% by March 2022. To achieve this target, India has set an overall solar power capacity target of 100 gigawatts by March 2022 which has been divided among all states — Tamil Nadu has the fourth largest share at almost 8.9 gigawatts.
The government of Tamil Nadu, in its solar energy policy 2109 document, has specified an operational solar power capacity target of 9 gigawatts. The government had earlier set a target to achieve 5 gigawatts of operational solar power capacity by the same year.
The new target is aligned with the recommendation of the central government’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) that proposed targets for all states corresponding to the solar RPO targets of 8% by 2022.
A major new change in the 2023 policy is the focus on rooftop solar power sector. 40%, or 3.6 gigawatts of the planned 9 gigawatts solar power capacity, has been allocated to the consumer category, i.e., rooftop solar power projects. The policy calls for installation of bi-directional meters to facilitate implementation of net-metering.
The policy also mentions the possibility of introduction of time-of-day tariffs for rooftop solar power projects to encourage the producers to supply more power during periods of high demand. There are also proposals for change in laws to mandate installation of rooftop solar power and solar thermal systems at large buildings.
At present, Tamil Nadu has an installed solar power capacity of 1.95 gigawatts with a share of around 7.5% of the total national installed solar power capacity.
Reference- Clean Technica, Tamil Nadu government website