Kerala Seeks to Generate 10 Megawatts from Roof-Top Solar Installations

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources India (Delhi, India)--India's southern coastal state Kerala has set a target to generate more than 10 megawatts (MW) from roof-top solar power systems in the next two years. The state recently launched an ambitious program to generate the energy from 10,000 roof-top solar power systems of 1 kilowatt (kW) each, which would be installed at individual households in various districts of the state.

Kerala is the first state in the country to launch such an ambitious program, which is expected to generate 15 million units of electricity annually. Notably, this is the largest program ever sanctioned for Kerala, so far, by the government of India. The schemes under the program envisage an overall expenditure of $32 million and include budgetary support of about $15 million from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) (New Delhi).

The second phase of the program aims to reach more than 50,000 households with a subsidy support of more than $37 million. The program has been sanctioned by MNRE under the solar off-grid photovoltaic (PV) program of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). The National Solar Mission, which was launched in 2010, aims to achieve 200 MW from off-grid solar applications by the end of March 2013.

The power sector in Kerala is mostly state-controlled. The state currently has an installed generation capacity of about 3,828 MW, out of which 2,229.6 MW is generated by the state-run utility Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) (Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala). A total of 1,940.2 MW is generated by 23 hydro power stations owned by KSEB. Established in 1958, the Board also generates 234.6 MW from diesel-based thermal power units. KSEB also owns and operates a 2 MW windfarm in the state. Kerala currently receives about 600 MW of power from central sector power utilities.

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