The southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has become the first one to response to the central government’s plan to set up large-scale solar and wind energy hybrid projects.
In a draft policy document issued by the Andhra Pradesh government a target set up 3 GW of solar-wind hybrid capacity has been stated. This is the first response by a state government to the centre’s plan to set up 10 GW of solar-wind hybrid capacity across the country.
Andhra Pradesh has an overall target to have 18 GW of renewable energy capacity operational by March 2022, which would represent just over 10% of the national target of 175 GW. The 18 GW renewable energy target has been divided into 10 GW of solar power and 8 GW of wind energy capacity.
Objectives of the state’s solar-wind hybrid policy includes use of new and innovative technologies such as energy storage.
The state government has announced a number of incentives for the existing as well as new hybrid allocations. Hybrid projects shall be exempted from transmission and wheeling charges, open access cross-subsidy charges as well as electricity duty. The projects will be free to sell electricity to any consumer within the state through open access connectivity. The projects will also have a ‘must-run’ status, that is, there would be no curtailment of generation.
Andhra Pradesh, being one of the coastal states of India, has ample wind energy resources. It is also among the fastest growing markets in the solar power sector with a massive pipeline of projects. As on 31 July 2016, the state had an operational solar power capacity of over 800 MW, or around 10% of the national installed capacity.
Recently, phase one of the 1.5 GW Anantapuram solar park in Andhra Pradesh was commissioned. NTPC Limited, which owns the solar power park, announced the operationalisation of 250 MW capacity, making it one of the largest solar power projects in India. The Solar Energy Corporation of India also announced plans to launch 100 MW energy storage tender for subsequent phases of the solar power park.