India’s Karnataka state announced its solar power policy outlining terms for 350 megawatts of capacity that it’s targeting to build by 2016.
Under the program, Karnataka on India’s southwest coast plans to award permits to companies to build 200 megawatts of projects through bidding and the remaining 150 megawatts by application, according to a copy of the policy posted on the Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd. website.
Solar photovoltaic projects, which use panels to convert sunlight directly into electricity, must be 3 megawatts to 10 megawatts in size, it said. Solar thermal plants that use the sun to heat liquids to produce steam for generators must be at least 5 megawatts.
India aims to boost development of alternative energy as waning growth in conventional power output threatens to deepen a slowdown in Asia’s third-largest economy. State-run programs have been among the most ambitious, such as western Gujarat state, which has awarded 959 megawatts of solar projects, almost the capacity of one nuclear power plant.
Karnataka will use a bidding process that will award capacity to those developers who offer to sell their solar power at the steepest discount to the state tariff, the policy said.
The current tariff for solar power plants set by the state electricity regulator is 14.50 rupees ($0.32) per kilowatt-hour for photovoltaic plants and 11.35 rupees per kilowatt-hour for solar thermal plants, according to a tariff order on the website of the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission.
Karnataka requires power distribution companies to procure 0.25 percent of their electricity from solar resources, which will create demand for sun-powered electricity, according to the policy.
