RENEWABLEENERGIES

Tamil Nadus Power in Renewable

Energy: An Overview
Sharada Balasubramanian, Energetica India

The state of Tamil Nadu has pioneered in harnessing wind energy. With Solar Policy
2012, it has found an effective solution to the looming power crisis. Through new
initiatives and additions to existing policies, the state aims to resolve some of the core
issues related to renewable energy.

I
n India, Tamil Nadu is the only state
where one-third of the installed power
comes from renewable sources. The
present installed capacity of 17,868.37
MW mostly consists of
Coal (35%),
Hydro (12%) and
Renewable Energy (42%)
Tamil Nadus higher percentage of re-
newable energy comes from the fact that
State state has geographic conditions that
are suitable for harnessing such sources of
energy. The government is also supporting
by taking proactive steps to tap various
sources of energy through policy frame-
work and research (see graphics 1 and 2).
A Background
Tamil Nadu constitutes 9% of the total
installed electricity generation capacity of
The Tamil Nadu Electricity
Board (TNEB), a state
sector enterprise, is the
main energy provider and
distributor in the state.
TNEB was formed in 1957,
and continued to be the
sole energy provider and
distributor in the state till
2008
India, which is mainly from fossil fuels. The
private sector has a 47% share in the total
installed capacity. Renewable power forms
52% of the total installed capacity (includ-
ing small hydro).
The total renewable energy potential
here is over 720,000 MW (including grid-
connected and off-grid power), according
to World Institute of Sustainable Energy
(WISE).
The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board
(TNEB), a state sector enterprise, is the
main energy provider and distributor in
the state. TNEB was formed in 1957, and
continued to be the sole energy provider
and distributor in the state till 2008. Af-
ter that, due to mandatory requirements
of the Electricity Act 2003, the state re-
organized TNEB by establishing TNEB Ltd
and two subsidiary companies, namely

Graphic 1.

Graphic 2.

40 APRIL13 energetica india


Renewable
Energy
Wind Power
Programme/
Systems
Cumulative
achievement 7.134,00
(MW)
Data as of 30th September 2012; Source: TEDA
Table 1.
Tamil Nadu constitutes
9% of the total installed
electricity generation
capacity of India, which is
mainly from fossil fuels
Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation Ltd
(TANTRANSCO) and Tamil Nadu Gen-
eration and Distribution Corporation Ltd
(TANGEDCO). TANTRANSCO took care of
electricity transmission. TANGEDCO was
into both electricity generation and distri-
bution.
In 1985, Tamil Nadu Energy Devel-
opment Agency (TEDA)was established
to promote New and Renewable ener-
gysources in the state.
The core objectives of TEDA are:
Identifying and estimating the potential
for renewable energy in the state
Creating awareness on the potential
and prospects by use of renewable en-
ergy
Enhancing renewable energy contri-
bution in the overall energy mix in the
state grid
Abatement of green house gas emis-
sions caused due to increasing use of
conventional fuels by promoting the use
of renewable energy
Systems to combat global warming
Developing and implementing sustain-
able energy security policy
Apart from the above mentioned du-
ties, TEDA also has the onus of identifying,
trapping, Research and Development, and
resource conservation.
The state has an installed electricity
generation capacity of 18,382 MW (as on
31st January, 2013) (see table 1).
Energy Deficit
Energy deficit in Tamil Nadu was 3% in FY
08 and is projected to increase to 30% in
FY13.
Despite 18,382 MW of installed ca-
pacity, the state is struggling to fulfill its
energetica india APRIL13
Bagasse Small Hydro
Biomass
Cogeneration Power
659,00 167,15 90,05
Requirement
Tamil Nadu
Energy Units (April Nov, 2012)
The information is from power shortage discussion in the Parliament 20th December, 2012
Table 2.
demand.Most of the districts face long
power cuts for over six hours.Between
April 2012 and February 2013, the energy
and peak shortage of power in Tamil Nadu
were 17.4 per cent and 12.3 per cent re-
spectively.
According to the 2011-12 policy note
of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB),
for financial year (FY) 2010-11, the deficit
during peak hours (1800 hrs to 2200 hrs)
ranged from 140MW to 3400 MW. During
the day it ranged between 1700 MW to
3700 MW.
The policy note also mentioned that
gross energy consumption for the same
year was 77,218 million units (MU). Of
this, state-owned generating stations con-
tributed to 27,941 MU, while 49,277 MU
was purchased from central generating
stations, wind, open market, exchanges,
etc.
To address the present shortfall of
about 17003700 MW at different times
during the day, the state government took
steps to manage the grid by using strong
measures like curtailing the load.
Another example of the energy deficit
being faced appears in table 2.
Some of the measures are highlighted
below:
40% cut on base demand and energy
for high tension (HT) industrial and
commercial services
Daily two hour load shedding in Chen-
nai and its suburbs, and four hours in
other areas
A nine-hour (six hours during day time
and three hours at night) three-phase
supply for agricultural services
HT industrial and commercial consum-
ers are not allowed to draw more than
RENEWABLEENERGIES
Solar Power Waste to
Total
(SPV) Energy
17,00 4,25 7979,17
Availability (MU) Surplus (MU)
(MU)
61.218 50.776 -10.442
10% power from the grid during even-
ing peak hours (1800 hrs to 2200 hrs)
for lighting and security purposes
Introduction of power holiday to all HT,
low tension (LT) and low-tension current
transformer (LTCT) industries for one
day between Monday and Saturday on
a staggered basis. In addition to above
mentioned points, all HT industries are
required to declare Sunday as a weekly
holiday
All HT industries are permitted to pro-
cure power through both inter-state
and intra-state open access (Source:
Policy Note 2012-13).
According to Deepak Krishnan, Man-
ager, Deloitte, In the past, power gen-
eration capacity additions of conventional
technologies in Tamil Nadu have fallen
significantly short of government targets
resulting in a huge power deficit scenario.
The primary reason for continuous losses
is the high power purchase cost to meet
demand. This is a result of generation pro-
jects not adhering to timelines. They are
forced to rely on costly power purchase
from IPPs which rely on imported coal.
Challenges
At the recent Solar Energy Investment &
TechnologyForum conference, experts
identified the following as key challenges
to integrating renewable energy in Tamil
Nadu:
Evacuation Infrastructure
Power system stability
Power system operation
Banking issues
Costs and impacts of balancing genera-
tion
Infrastructure Development costs
41
RENEWABLEENERGIES

States Capacity(MW) % of Total

Andhra Pradesh 435 2,34% Tamil Nadu has reasonably
Gujarat 3093 16,67% high solar radiation (5.6-
Karnataka 2113 11,39% 6.0 kWh/sq. m) with around
Kerala 35 0,19% 300 clear sunny days in a
Madhya Pradesh 386 2,08% year. This natural strength
Maharashtra 2.976 16,04% inspired the State to come
Rajasthan 2.355 12,69% up with a policy to promote
TamilNadu 7.154 38,56%
solar energy development
Others 4 0,02%
Total 18.551
Table 3. State-wise wind power installation as of 28/2/2013.

Wind Energy be available for the state to power its econ- Some of the major objectives of Tamil Nadus
Tamil Nadu has high wind potentialdue omy well beyond 202122, and upto 2050. Solar Policy 2012
to the tunneling effect during South West The policies in the state also favored To project Tamil Nadu as a Solar Hub
Monsoon. The wind installed capacity of the generation of wind power. The wind To generate 3000MW of solar energy
the state is 7134 MW, which is a whop- energy policy has a single window system, by 2015
ping 40% of the countrys total wind in- Open access / Third party sale / REC trad- To achieve grid parity by 2015
stalled capacity. This makes wind the sin- ing, Generation Based Incentive (GBI) to To encourage indigenous solar manu-
gle largest power generation technology promote foreign investments. facturing facilities in the State
in Tamil Nadu in terms of installed base. The Tamil Nadu Generation and Dis-
In 2011-12, over 1,000 MW of wind Solar Energy tribution Corporation tied up with over 90
generation capacity was added but in the Tamil Nadu has reasonably high solar ra- investors to supply a total of 226 MW of
current year, only about 200 MW was add- diation (5.6-6.0 kWh/sq. m) with around solar power (see table 4).
ed. Last summer, wind energy had contrib- 300 clear sunny days in a year. This natu- Solar in Textile Industry: An Overview
uted to nearly one-third of the power sup- ral strength inspired the State to come up At the SolarEnergy Investment and
plied to the grid. with a policy to promote solar energy de- TechnologyForum, experts discussed how
According to Ministry of New and Re- velopment. Known as Solar Policy 2012, textile, a key industry in Coimbatore could
newable Energy (MNRE), during 2011-12, it aims to generate 3000 MW by 2015. use solar power.
wind energy alone contributed to 12.6 % of
total energy fed into grid. The all time high
capacity addition of 1083.460 MW in 2011-
12. Wind capacity addition to a tune of 1000
MW is expected for 2012-13. A capacity ad-
dition of 6000 MW of wind energy installa-
tions is targeted under the 12th five year plan.
About 35% of the wind assets have
PPAs with TNEB.
A study commissioned by CII and Sak-
thi Foundation, along with WISE found out
that there is potential to add over 2,000
MW of wind energy in Tamil Nadu.
The state could also take a lead in
harnessing its offshore wind resources. It
is in the process of installing a 100-metre
mast for wind measurements in Dhanush-
kodi. According to Centre for Wind En-
ergy Technology (C-WeT), Tamil Nadu has
a potential of about 1 GW in the north of
Rameswaram and another 1 GW in the
south of Kanyakumari. Various surveys
were conducted to assess this potential.
According to WISE, after discounting
various factors like actual land availability,
constraints in offshore development etc., it
is clear that considerable potential will still

42 APRIL13 energetica india


Year 2013
Utility Scale (MW) 750
Solar Roof Tops (MW) 100
REC (MW) 150
Total (MW) 1000
Tamil Nadu Solar Policy 2012
Table 4
Petroleum products, coal and elec-
tricity are the major energy sources used
in the sector. Energy cost constitutes sig-
nificantly to the total manufacturing cost
(about 5-17%).
The industry also requires thermal and
electrical energy for its operation. About
80% of the energy requirement is met in
the form of heat. With time, and increase
in technology, the energy consumption is
only going to increase, adding to the cost
of manufacturing.
Experts believe that the heat required
for all these processes can easily be generat-
ed through the use of solar energy (table 5).
For instance, technologies to deliver
hot water include Flat Plate Collectors, So-
lar PV and Concentrators.
In Tirupur, at Jayamurugan Knitting,
Velumurugan Dyeing group of companies,
the entire unit is successfully running with
the power produced from the 40 photo-
voltaic cell panels. The unit depends on
the photovoltaic cell unit for almost 60
per cent of the daily consumption needs,
reducing the dependency on the power
from grid. The entire system was priced at
Rs. 17 lakh Rs. 5.7 lakh, which was subsidy
from MNRE.
The above example demonstrates how
solar can be used in the power strapped
state for textile industry. Given the inher-
ent challenges of integrating RE in Tamil
Nadu, solar power could help reduce the
deficit and the use of expensive diesel for
backup gensets.
Small Hydro
The state does not feature among the top
five when it comes to small hydro.
In Tamil Nadu, small hydro has an es-
timated potential of 659.51 MW through
197 sites. As of November 2011, 94.05
MW was installed. Many small micro hy-
dro projects are being set up in remote
and isolated areas. A number of tea gar-
den owners are also setting up micro hydel
projects to meet their captive requirement
of power.
energetica india APRIL13
2014 2015
550 200
125 125
325 675
1000 1000
Graphic 3.
Given the inherent inherent
challenges of integrating
renewable energy in Tamil
Nadu, solar power could
help reduce the deficit and
the use of expensive diesel
for backup gensets
Organizations such as the Water Mill
Associations, Cooperative Societies, NGOs,
etc. are being encouraged to install water-
mills in their areas for electricity generation
to meet small scale electrical requirements
of villages.
Apart from wind, solar, biomass and
small hydro, waste to energy plants are
also under operation, but there are roughly
about three projects that are running now.
Renewable Energy Certificate
(REC) Mechanisms and RPOs
Given the inherent inherent challenges
of integrating renewable energy in Tamil
Nadu, solar power could help reduce the
deficit and the use of expensive diesel for
backup gensets.
TANTRANSCO is the nodal agency
for accrediting REC projects. As of March
2013, Tamil Nadu has total 178 (792 MW
of installed capacity) grid connected wind
energy projects, one solar PV project hav-
ing installed capacity of 1 MW and 14
Biomass based energy projects with total
installed capacity of 135 MW registered
under REC mechanism.
The Solar Energy Policy 2012 set a
RENEWABLEENERGIES
Off Grid Potential in Tamil Nadu
Rooftop PV 29642 (MW)
Solar water heating 16.15 (million sq km)
Solar pumping 7041 (MW)
Table 5.
minimum purchase obligation for consum-
ers who are distribution licensees, grid-
connected captive power consumers and
open access consumers; they would have
to meet 3 per cent of their electricity needs
from solar power from January 2013 and 6
per cent from 2014.
Future Energy Scenario
Energy projections for Tamil Nadu based
on the 18th Draft Electric Power Survey
with respect to future energy requirements
suggest an increase in annual energy re-
quirement:
80.69 billion units (BU) present
110.25 BU by 2016-17
154.59 BU by 2021-22
The corresponding increase in peak
load is expected to grow to
11,971 MW 2011-12 (past number) to
18,994 MW by 2016-17
26,330 MW by 2021-22
The Vision Tamil Nadu 2023 document
released by the state Chief Minister on 22
March 2012, envisages a massive invest-
ment of Rs. 4,50,000 crore (Rs. 4500 bil-
lion) in the state energy sector. This money
is looked to be spent as seen in graphic 3.
References:
- http://www.tangedco.gov.in/linkpdf/growth1.pdf
- http://www.asiastudies.org/file/publication/balan/
TNEB%20Paper.pdf
- h tt p : / / m n r e . g ov. i n / f i l e - m a n a g e r / U s e r F i l e s /
presentation-01082012/Presentation%20on%20
W i n d % 2 0 Po w e r % 2 0 S c e n a r i o % 2 0 i n % 2 0
Tamil%20Nadu%20by%20Shri%20Rajeev%20
Ranjan,%20Chairman,%20TNEB.pdf
- h ttp://www.eai.in/blog/2012/01/status-of-small-
hydro-power-in-tamil-nadu-potential-installed-
capacity-future-plans.html
- h tt p : / / m n r e . g ov. i n / f i l e - m a n a g e r / U s e r F i l e s /
presentations-challenges_and_issues_in_solar_
RPO_compliance_19122012/Session%20-%202_
Tamil%20Nadu%20Solar%20Policy%202012_
TEDA.pdf
- h ttp://panchabuta.com/2013/03/27/tamil-nadu-
emerges-renewable-energy-hub/
- http://greencleanguide.com/2013/04/05/electricity-
scenario-of-the-state-of-tamilnadu/
- h tt p : / / m n r e . g ov. i n / f i l e - m a n a g e r / U s e r F i l e s /
presentation-01082012/Presentation%20on%20
W i n d % 2 0 Po w e r % 2 0 S c e n a r i o % 2 0 i n % 2 0
Tamil%20Nadu%20by%20Shri%20Rajeev%20
Ranjan,%20Chairman,%20TNEB.pdf
- h ttp://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/
tamil%20nadu_re%20action%20plan_jan%20
2013.pdf
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