The rooftop solar plants currently contribute nearly 30–35 per cent of Kerala’s daytime electricity consumption
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The Kerala Domestic Solar Prosumers Community has urged the new State government to take immediate steps to address Kerala’s growing energy crisis by accelerating renewable energy adoption, especially rooftop solar projects.The community pointed out that Kerala continues to depend heavily on costly electricity purchases from other States and said the long-term solution lies in maximising internal renewable energy production. It called for a visionary State Renewable Energy Policy that safeguards the interests of solar prosumers while supporting the State’s climate commitments and future energy targets.Jameskutty Thomas, coordinator of the organisation, said the government should launch large-scale awareness campaigns highlighting the economic and environmental benefits of solar energy and make solar installations mandatory on buildings owned by Grama Panchayats, Municipalities and Corporations.KDSPC also stressed the need for specialised job training programmes and research incentives to create employment opportunities in the green energy sector and develop solar technologies suited to Kerala’s climatic conditions.Kerala, which is increasingly vulnerable to global warming and recurring natural disasters, have little choice but to reduce its dependence on conventional thermal power generation. However, technical and policy hurdles continue to discourage thousands of consumers willing to install rooftop solar systems.Rooftop solar panelsThe rooftop solar plants currently contribute nearly 30–35 per cent of Kerala’s daytime electricity consumption. By maximising daytime solar use, the Kerala State Electricity Board could significantly reduce hydroelectric generation during the day and conserve water in reservoirs for peak nighttime demand, he said.Unlike thermal power-dependent states, Kerala’s hydroelectric stations can rapidly increase or decrease generation, making them well suited to balance fluctuations in solar power generation, he added.New applicationsThe community also demanded that rejection of new solar applications citing transformer capacity constraints be stopped and that upgrading transformers based on demand should become a mandatory responsibility of KSEB.It also sought fair compensation for excess electricity supplied to the grid by domestic solar producers, arguing that the present pricing mechanism discourages consumers from feeding surplus power back into the grid.Besides the existing Central government assistance, the organisation urged the State government to introduce additional subsidies and incentives to encourage wider public participation in the solar energy sector.Published on May 22, 2026
