BENGALURU: The state government plans to unveil a new solar power policy next month and phase out power purchase agreements (PPAs), which have become problematic for Karnataka because of excess production and must-use clauses.

There are no storage facilities for solar power, and the government finds it difficult to fulfil the rigid requirements of PPAs that were signed long back. At the same time, it has to utilise funds to keep conventional sources alive as a backup.

Officials said that the government was relooking at the solar policy, which was formulated in 2014 and is up for renewal this year.

“The bigger problem for the state is to manage the unreliability factor in renewable energy, in particular solar and wind. As a result, we are now concentrating on bringing newer technology on solar power battery storage units. We are also bringing a new solar policy, which will hopefully solve our problems,” said energy minister V Sunil Kumar. He added that the policy would look at rationalising the quantum of solar and wind power to be generated in the state. According to senior officials, the government is also trying to identify ways to balance renewable energy sources with conventional ones such as thermal and hydro. “We cannot forever keep our thermal and hydro plants as backups, spending crores for readiness, and force customers to pay for the same. There needs to be rationalisation,” an official said.

The energy department is working on a plan to utilise solar power for the operation of irrigation pumpsets, offset must-use clauses in long-term PPAs and reduce power subsidies provided to farmers. “There are two mechanisms. One is the old scheme of offline solar pumpsets. The other one that is being looked into is supplying solar power directly to agriculture feeder lines rather than merging with commercial and domestic lines.

We plan to use solar power exclusively for these IP set feeders,” the energy minister said. Karnataka is a leader in renewable energy with an installed capacity of more than 13,455MW, 50 per cent of which is solar. Renewable energy accounts for 54 per cent of the total power production in the state.