Thiruvananthapuram | Keralam will examine the feasibility of floating solar projects and pumped-storage facilities as part of a broader strategy to meet the state's power needs over the longer term, Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph said here on Friday.
The minister was addressing a roundtable on "Renewable Energy Sources" on the closing day of Reimagining Keralam, a three-day event, featuring a series of Round Table Conferences (RTCs) on the state government's flagship development projects.
"Keralam has a power crisis which can only be addressed with innovative projects that are feasible to the state's unique geographical and climate conditions," Joseph said at the conference also attended by KSEB chairman M G Rajamanickam.
The state has structural and operational constraints when it comes to large-scale conventional solar and wind power projects due to its geographical features and consequences of climate change, the minister said.
The state needs to look at the possibility of floating solar projects, pump storage facilities, and developing community level battery storage systems with the help of Local Self Governing bodies, he added.
There is tremendous potential for floating solar projects in the state. Keralam has the capacity to produce 2,000 mega watt of power through floating solar facilities, said M R Narayanan, who pioneered India's concrete-based floating solar projects on the Banasura Sagar reservoir in Wayanad.
The government should formulate a single window clearance approach for the timely implementation of such energy projects, he said.
Conservation of energy should be integrated into policy level as it is the most practical and immediate solution for the present energy crisis in the state, Rajamanickam said.
With more households installing rooftop solar systems, consumers are not aware of the energy consumption. This calls for a system to notify consumers about power consumption and incentivise energy conservation, he added.
The conference also deliberated on how solar photovoltaic, small and medium wind, small hydropower, biomass and waste-to-energy can be integrated into a common Energy Management System.
The conference also discussed how Battery Energy Storage Systems can be demonstrated at utility, community, institutional and residential scale.
Officials from ANERT, KSEB, representatives of Kerala Renewable Energy Entrepreneurs Association and other industry stakeholders attended the conference.