Steep fall in renewable energy projects in Karnataka

No major renewable energy (RE) projects have been commissioned in Karnataka in the last three years, indicating a drastic fall since the pandemic, data reviewed by DH shows.

While 1,317.36 MW of renewable projects were commissioned in 2019-20, the number fell to 236.83 MW in 2020-21. Though there has been a nominal increase in new projects, it is nowhere close to the pre-pandemic levels, according to data from Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL).

The fall has been attributed to a funds shortage, and the government has not made any allocation for new RE projects in the recent state budget.

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The fall is surprising because Karnataka is one of the top producers of renewable energy in India, and the state government has promised to push the use of RE.

Acknowledging the slowdown, a senior KREDL official said Karnataka had already achieved the Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) target set by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) and hence there was no allocation of projects.

"Renewable energy contributes nearly 62% of the state's energy production. We cannot overdo the production of RE since Karnataka is already a power-surplus state. We need to balance the production of RE and non-RE. We have planned the projects keeping that in mind," said K P Rudrappaiah, managing director of KREDL.

Another official said many private companies had ventured into producing RE while many consumers were also shifting to it.

"The reliance on ESCOMs is coming down because some consumers are choosing to purchase power from private open-access solar projects. So there is no immediate need to increase production of RE," the official said. He added that there was increased awareness among citizens and many of them were now opting to install a solar rooftop to meet their energy needs.

"We will have to buy the excess power produced through decentralised projects such as solar rooftops. While planning for new projects, we will have to consider the energy production from such decentralised RE projects as well," the official said.

Energy Minister K J George, however, told DH recently that the government was keen to promote green energy and was exploring newer means. "We understand that we need to push it. We are looking at encouraging farmers to use solar energy to power the pump sets. We also want to open discussions with industrialists to see if they can also move towards the use of solar power," he said.

Though the number of projects has come down, Rudrappaiah said the government was focusing on adopting modern technologies to make better use of the RE produced.

"RE is intermittent and cannot be tapped into whenever there is a need, So we are looking at pumped storage and battery storage projects, and such other new means to store the RE produced,” he said.