Joining the other states in achieving 100 GW of solar capacity together by 2022, the state of Kerala is now planning to develop 1,000 MW of solar projects under the SOURA program.

The SOURA scheme is to be jointly implemented by Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) and Agency for Non-conventional Energy and Rural Technology (ANERT), the state nodal agency for renewable projects.

In the first phase, projects aggregating 200 MW, both rooftop and ground-mounted, will be issued. It has been proposed to float the tenders under two models, namely Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) tender and tariff-based competitive bidding.

Kerala board has prepared the draft of bid documents and wants to take opinions of prospective stakeholders before finalizing them. The date of the meeting has been fixed on January 14, 2019.

Recently, the KSEB announced a tender for 200 MW of grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) projects to be developed in Kerala on Independent Power Producer (IPP) mode. The bid-submission deadline is February 1, 2019. A single bidder must bid for a minimum of 1 MW and can bid for a maximum of 200 MW. The KSEB has fixed the upper ceiling tariff at ₹3.50 (~0.05)/kWh.

In November 2018, Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (KSERC) had approved a petition filed by KSEB seeking its approval for 200 MW of grid-connected solar PV projects to be developed in Kerala under IPP mode.

In October 2018,  Kerala announced its Electric Vehicle Policy. Under this, the road tax on the electric vehicles may be fully exempted for the initial three years. Charging stations for the EVs would be set up by Kerala State Electricity Board Limited (KSEBL) and might establish battery swapping stations jointly with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL). Battery swapping infrastructure would be as per the standards for battery swapping to be formulated under the policy.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, the state of Kerala has an installed solar capacity of 76.4 MW and a project pipeline of 57.65 MW to date.

Image credit: RESOL