Uttar Pradesh to revise renewable energy policy

The Uttar Pradesh government is planning to revise the state’s solar power policy to align it with the policies of other states.

Minister of Additional Sources of Energy Brajesh Pathak said, “The Uttar Pradesh New & Renewable Energy Development Agency has been acting as a project execution functionary till now. We are looking to increase the ambit of the agency and seek budgetary allocation to operate standalone.”

“The previous government was not focussed on renewable energy and not been able to meet even 10 per cent of the state’s targets for renewable energy. This year, we will come closer to the targets set till now,” he told BusinessLine in an interview.

The UP government is also going to rework the renewable energy policy of the state. Pathak said, “We are studying the models adopted by other state governments that include a heightened offtake assurance to promote renewable energy.”Under the UP Solar Power Policy 2013, the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd was to sign a power purchase agreements with successful bidders for a period of ten years. Comparably, the other state power distribution utilities sign PPAs for up to 25 years from renewable energy projects.

The UP government will also increase focus on off-grid solar power in rural regions.

Pathak said, “We have identified 10 villages to pilot off-grid renewable energy. In the first phase, we will provide off-grid power free of cost.

The cost of setting up these projects will vary from ₹2 crore to ₹3.5 crore each, depending on the size of the village and this will be funded by the state government.”

“In the next phase, we will encourage net-metering. During billing, this net metering approach will automatically deduct the energy contributed to the grid from the total energy consumed, Pathak added.

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