Three months after the State cabinet approved the Solar Power Policy for the State, it has since been notified, and the government is now in the process of tendering for installation of plants after which production of solar power will start. The entire process is expected to take a year, delaying Goa’s move to a solar power State even more. The policy itself was delayed by a few months. It was expected in July last, but was pushed forward until the cabinet finally approved it in December 2017. At that time, the policy was expected to be functional by the end of the current financial year, with the government saying it would even show an impact by then. We are now in the last month of that financial year, and still in the early stages of the tendering process.
The Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) has set Goa a target of producing 150MW of solar power by 2021 and the State’s plan is to get going initially on 50MW of power, before increasing it to meet the target. If Goa is able to get its policy implemented by this year-end, then it may just about meet this deadline. Any further delays in getting off the mark will only serve to increase the pressure on the State. The time now is for action on the policy, ensuring that there are no delays so that the dependence on fossil fuels is reduced to some extent. It is an aim of the policy for Goa to become the first State to reduce its consumption of thermal power, thus reducing its dependency on coal. An enviable aim, but Goa is yet to get anywhere to meeting it.
The draft policy itself had already spoken of ‘self-reliance in power generation’ and promotion of a ‘clean source of power generation’ resulting in the reduction of carbon emissions. Self reliance in power, for a State that does not generate any, is a major challenge that the State can undertake as the demand for power is not only growing, but renewable energy has not reached such a stage that it can be depended upon solely, and for now will remain a supplement to fossil fuels. Yet, let’s not escape the fact that the potential for producing solar power in Goa exists, and the State may even be able to generate a fair bit of power through this, all it needs is some focused dedication.
After the cabinet had approved the solar power policy, the government had said that housing colonies can opt for rooftop solar power generation by employing the same contractor if all the owners are in agreement, and that government departments can generate solar power within their premises. While these are proposals, the government needs to move ahead with this, by making it mandatory for all new and proposed constructions, especially residential colonies and commercial buildings, to have some solar power generation capacity. It has been pointed out that Karnataka has made this compulsory and releases power connections to new constructions from its grid only when it has been ascertained that solar energy plants have been installed.
The government needs to step up the pace in looking to ultilise renewable sources of energy so as to reduce the dependency on conventional non-renewable energy sources, which include fossil fuels, and also lessen the reliance on the National grid for its power needs. If the State can generate 150 MW of solar power, it would be able to meet a sizeable chunk of the power needs. It may not be able to do it on its own, but could get into agreements with ‘prosumers’ (producer and consumer) who have surplus power that can be sold to the government and distributed further. That would be thinking out of the box.
