The north Indian state of Haryana is the latest one to launch a revised solar power policy to align it according to the central government’s enhanced capacity addition target.

The government of Haryana had recently organised an investors’ summit to attract fresh investments in the renewable energy, especially solar power sector. Despite have decent land and solar energy resource Haryana is not among the fastest emerging solar power markets in India.

The government announced that the new solar power policy shall have a target to add 4 GW capacity by 2022. This provides clarity to the project developers that know exactly how much the demand for solar power is expected to be over the next few years.

The policy clarifies that the state shall procure solar power in addition to what is the mandated to acquire under the Renewable Purchase Obligation. To attract investments from private sector companies and entities, the policy exempts solar power projects from electricity duty and cross-subsidy charges.

The policy is particularly attractive for small-scale project developers that plan to set up projects of 1-2 MW capacity. The policy sets aside 800 MW capacity for such project developers. These projects may also receive additional incentives in terms of higher tariffs.

The government has streamlined the process of obtaining approvals to set up rooftop solar power systems and shall also incentivise owners and developers with net-metering and feed-in tariff schemes. As the central government had directed all states last year, the policy exempts solar power projects from any transmission charges.

Learning from the state of Gujarat, the Haryana government has also included targets to cover water canals and their banks with solar panels.

• [Editor:tianyawei]