Lack of policy hindering growth of renewable energy in Tamil Nadu, say stakeholders

Coimbatore: Tamil Nadu has the potential to tap renewable energy sources, but there is a lack of requisite infrastructure and policymaking which is hindering the state's progress towards renewable energy, say stakeholders.

The stakeholders, including industrialists and manufacturers of components for renewable energy who participated in a round table titled ‘Unlocking the Potential for Renewable Energy in India & Tamil Nadu' in Coimbatore on Thursday, urged the govt to formulate an integrated policy for promoting renewable energy.

They wanted deduction of the networking charges collected for solar energy generation. The round table discussion was a curtain raiser for the ninth edition of RenewX 2025, a south Indian sourcing fair.

Ashok, president of Tamil Nadu Solar Energy Developers Association, said Tamil Nadu stood third in the country after Rajasthan and Gujarat in renewable energy capacity. "Similarly, we are in the seventh position in the PM rooftop solar project implementation. But many people still lack awareness of the availability of subsidies for the installation of solar energy,'' he said.

The main concern among the large-capacity producers is the networking charges applied to the surplus energy given to the Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (TNPDCL). "There are no policies as such regarding the storage of renewable energies," he said.

Commenting on the scope of renewable energy, N Pradeep, president of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Consumers' Association (TECA), said, "In recent years, the velocity of the wind has reduced, increasing the demand for solar energy. In the southern states, the land availability is good, but the infrastructure corridor needs to be developed. Here in Coimbatore the land value is very high, and people can opt for land only on the outskirts. The best option is to move to a hybrid method of renewable energy where windmills and solar panels co-exist on the same parcel of land. This should also be considered by the govt during policymaking."

T Sathish Kumar, chairman and managing director of Milky Mist Dairy Food Pvt Ltd, highlighted the benefits of renewable energy from the consumer point of view. "The dairy industry is mainly automated to ensure hygiene and quality products, which has a huge power consumption. A yearly consumption of 2.2 crore units of energy is required. At present, with the existing 12 megawatt solar plant and 2 megawatt windmill, we can generate 1.3 crore units annually. This meets about 60% of the total energy requirement of the industry. We are planning to further expand the in-house renewable energy plant to fulfil the entire energy demand,'' he said.