Solar power tariff brought down

Solar power will be cheaper in the State with the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) announcing a reduction in its tariff.

The revised tariff will be applicable to solar power generators entering into power purchase agreements with the Escoms from April this year till March 31, 2018. 

The tariff per unit of solar PV power plants has come down from Rs 14.50 to Rs 8.40, that of Solar thermal power plants from Rs 11.35 to Rs 10.92, rooftop and small solar PV plants from Rs 14.50 to Rs 7.20. Reduction in price of solar modules has helped bring the tariff down. The estimated capital cost in the earlier KERC order for Solar PV Plants was Rs 15 crore and that for Solar Thermal Plants Rs 13 crore. In the present order, this has come down to Rs 8.30 crore and Rs 12 crore respectively. 

The KERC has also decided to not levy any wheeling and banking charges or cross subsidy surcharge on the solar generators in order to encourage solar power generation. 

Speaking to mediapersons here on Friday, KERC Chairperson M R Sreenivasa Murthy said, the tariff in the State compared to other states is much lesser. For instance, in Rajasthan, the tariff for solar PV and for roof top remain at Rs 9.63 per unit. 

In addition, a separate tariff has been charted out for rooftop solar to encourage investments from retail consumers. “This will help consumers not only to generate power for their own use but also to sell surplus into the grid at the fixed tariff,” Murthy added.