This webinar was held by EQ Magazine Pro on 19th April 2022, powered by Goldi Solar. In this webinar, various schemes and policies were discussed. It was moderated by Mr. Prabi Prasad, Technical Director & Partner, Maxwell Solar Private Limited.
Mr. Paresh Naik, Senior GM, Goldi Solar introduced Goldi Solar, “This 11-year-old company has a rich history and has been one of the prominent players in the industry. We have a total of 2.5 GW capacity and export to more than 20 countries. We also plan to foray into solar cell manufacturing with our third facility by FY22-23 and set up 5 GW by 2025. The workforce is more than 1200. We have 32 distributors across the country and 45 dealers.
Today, Goldi Solar is synonymous for Quality Products and Quality People making us India’s Most Quality Conscious Brand. Goldi is poised to take on the energy challenges of the future with an eye on upcoming module technologies & manufacturing practices. As we continue to explore global export opportunities further, strengthen our production, technological and marketing capabilities, we intend to further consolidate our leadership position in the Indian solar industry. “
Mr. R Harikumar, Director, Energy Management Centre, Kerala said, “I am very thankful to the industry partnering with the state’s initiatives for increasing its solar capacity. We have crossed 500 MW of solar capacity and around 230 MW is from rooftop solar out of a target of 1000 MW in 2022. Seeing this immense support from the industry and the increasing customer preferences towards solar, the government of Kerala has a plan to add 3000 MW of capacity by the end of this 5-year plan. Now, when we talk about the battery storage as a requirement for grid stability, the subsidy should be given as a viability gap funding towards behind the meter storage solutions. When we consider Kerala being a disaster-prone area with the floods and cyclones, we should think about the meter battery storage that has a great relevance. Also, we should consider the applications like solar water purifiers and solar dryers. Such solar products also need to be promoted.”
Mr. Naushad S, Assistant Executive Engineer, Soura Nodal Officer, KSEB said, “We introduced a programme in the name and style of Saudi and this has been widely accepted by the public of Kerala. In November 2020, the addition was 160 megawatts in the grid of Kerala state, then we sum up the addition 31st of March 2022, the figure has come up to 518 megawatts, which we had published on various media platforms. So, from 160 MW to 518 MW, in the span of 1 ¼ year, this is the investment and effort by all the stakeholders and the electricity board. As a front runner KSEB has already introduced a programme before launching the subsidy scheme by MNRE. We did this to encourage the green energy concept. We introduced a scheme which we named phase one and the electricity board has invested the amount for this project. In this, 100% investment was from the board and 10% of the energy was given on the lease to the households for the rooftop. According to the scheme we had completed almost 28 megawatts and the scheme ended last March. MNRE has allocated 200 megawatts in the second scheme, which we call phase 2. MNRE subsidy scheme can be executed only by Kerala State Executive. We have 25 electrical circuits throughout the state and 776 electrical sections.”
Mr Srikanth Suresh Kumar, AGM, BD, Amp Energy India said, “Kerala market throws a lot of new challenges and opportunities which are innovative. There are a lot of opportunities for floating solar since the land area is quite limited in Kerala. This has been one major key focus from the policymakers in Kerala. On the floating solar front, a lot of water bodies exist and there are floating solar projects already implemented around Kochi. So, we hope to see a lot more of such projects which are innovative and also showing the way to the industry, how to implement such projects. While KSEB is working on getting its right mix of power procurement from the utility grid through the NPPC schemes and on the other hand very vigorously and successfully having implemented the MNRE’s programmes related to the residential segment. There is sufficient opportunity in Kerala, to promote the commercial industrial segment whether it is rooftop or ground or floating solar or within the premises.”
Mr Nithyanandam Yuvaraj Dinesh Babu, Executive Director, EY said, “Kerala has been the only state in the entire country to promote these kinds of utility led models, which are very limited. Utility led model is the best option for any state to understand, test and validate to move forward in terms of accelerating the rooftop solar implementation. Also, in terms of the penetration aspect, the commercial impact assessment has become a prerequisite for all the utilities across the country. Still, many discoms have not understood this. The impact assessment has to be dynamic and discoms should have enough tools, data and access to the resources to continuously assess how rooftop solar penetration is affecting the technical aspect. In the financial aspect, there’s a huge difference in terms of the impact on discoms revenues. Another aspect is how rooftop solar penetration is making a difference in the deferred investment on the infrastructure by discoms, which is understated by many discoms.”
Mr M R Narayanan, Managing Director, Floatels India Private Limited talked about floating solar. He said, “Just like the ground mounted solar and rooftop solar are the two pillars of the solar industry, then the third pillar will be the floating solar system. The advantages, especially in a state like Kerala, floating solar can be a solution. In floating solar, dust is not a major problem. Also, when the floating solar covers the large area of the water body, the evaporation losses can be minimised. Unlike the ground mounted solar or rooftop solar, there is no one size fit all for the floating solar. One has to spend a lot of time and effort initially in analysing the site because of the variable conditions at the site.”
For more information please see below link:
https://www.facebook.com/EQMagPro/videos/esuryacon-kerala/1080769902784438
