Friday, May 16, 2014: The Karnataka Cabinet has given a clearance to the revised solar energy policy for the state. According to the policy, the farmers will be encouraged to set up solar power plants to produce the solar energy and further sell it to electricity companies.
Commenting on the policy, state’s Energy Minister D K Shivakumar told reporters, “The cabinet has given clearance to the revised solar energy policy, which will encourage farmers to set up small solar power plants with a capacity of 1 to 3 MW in their farms to produce energy and sell it ESCOMs.”
The solar power produced by the farmers will be purchased by the companies at a tariff fixed by Karnataka Energy Regulatory Commission. The policy also provides for financial support to the farmers to install solar plants on their private land. The policy also has the provisions for providing farm land for investors on rent and it would be fixed by the government. It includes the liberalisation of norms for purchasing farm land for non-agricultural purposes, this would eventually help the investors to buy land from farmers, for setting up the solar power plants.
The policy also talks about the projects of over 3MW capacity. These projects will be selected on the basis of competitive bidding process. Shivakumar said, “The government will facilitate purchase of energy generated under this category through ESCOMs.”
