South India, a leader in wind energy, is now hoping to replicate the ‘wind' success in solar power too. Karnataka has just launched its programme and has bid out 80 MW of capacity. Tamil Nadu is said to be very close to announcing its own policy for the development of solar power projects in the State.

Karnataka is only the second State, after Gujarat, to bid out projects, promising a feed-in tariff. (Rajasthan did come out with a draft policy, but is yet to take it further from that point.) The bidding process in Karnataka roughly coincides with the second round of bidding under the National Solar Mission. This makes Karnataka a keenly-watched State.

As things stand today, it is economically unviable for project developers to put up projects unless there is some kind of a scheme that gives them a price for their electricity that covers the high project costs. But not many electricity boards are in a position to offer a high price for solar power.

Year-round sunshine

Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd seems to have broken this logjam. It requires no great imagination to understand that South India is pretty much suited for solar power projects, because of the ample, year-round sunshine. The country's first grid-connected solar plant came up in Tamil Nadu — Moser Baer's 5 MW plant at Sivaganga, southern Tamil Nadu.

An NRI-promoted company called Zynergy has said it intends to invest Rs 2,000 crore in putting up both a 350 MW solar plant and a module manufacturing unit in Tamil Nadu. However, other than a clutch of 1-2 MW projects, there is as yet nothing in the South in terms of generation.

A lot, on equipment side

On the equipment manufacturing side, there is a lot more activity, and here again, Karnataka seems to be in the forefront. The HHV group, based in Bangalore, is now gearing up for a large play in the solar market. The company produces equipment for the manufacture of solar photo voltaic panels, both crystalline silicon and thin film. To demonstrate its own technology, the company (through a subsidiary) produces solar modules using HHV equipment.

Emmvee, a Bangalore-based player, has a module manufacturing capacity of 60 MW. The German company, Conergy, has recently set up a plant near Bangalore that is capable of producing modules worth 25 MW. Surana Ventures, based in Hyderabad also produces modules.

Apart from these, several inverter manufacturers are in the South. The Italian company, Bonfiglioli, which has a plant near Chennai produces inverters. So does Converteam, a French company recently taken over by GE, which also has a plant near Chennai.

But South India has the biggest play in the solar market in terms of EPC contractors. At least three quarters of the country's EPC players are South-headquartered. Some of the names are: L&T, SunEdison and Shriram EPC in Chennai and Wipro and Juwi of Germany in Karnataka.

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