Southern Railway has received approval for net metering connections for its 4 MW rooftop solar projects across 22 locations, including railway stations across the State.
It had filed a petition with the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) seeking a direction to the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) to grant connectivity and net metering to is projects as per the State’s old solar energy policy in 2012.
The requirement of the solar roof top plant capacity varied from 50 kwp to 1000 kwp in various locations of Tamil Nadu which consist of both HT / LT service connections.
The projects were to be set up at Chengalpattu, Katpadi, Arakkonam, Tambaram, Chennai Egmore, Jolarpettai, Tiruchi, Villupuram, Madurai, Virudhunagar and Coimbatore railway stations, among other locations like Moore Market Complex and Basin Bridge Junction.
Southern Railway said it had approached Tangedco for extending the net metering facility for the project. However, its chief engineer had stated that the net metering facility can only be available for LT consumers.
“Tangedco’s response of not allowing net metering for HT III tariff category service connections is complete insubordination of the TNERC’s order. Not allowing the net-metering for solar projects at HT supply points will lead to poor investment from developers which will finally hamper the development of roof top solar panel arrangement. It is a national loss, it pointed out in the petition.
The TNERC noted that Southern Railway had filed its petition and the hearings were held before the issue of Tamil Nadu’s new solar policy 2019, in which there is no explanation about net metering for HT consumers. It directed Tangedco to provide the metering connectivity to the 4 MW projects.
However, the TNERC said that future cases would be decided based on its order from time to time. If the net meters are not available with the Tangedco, Southern Railway might be permitted to procure them as per the specifications, it added.
