APPLICABLE POLICIES

Himachal Pradesh Solar Policy and it's Solar Highlights

Himachal Pradesh translated to "Snow Abode" and is a state that is located in Northern region of India. It has states like Punjab, J&K and Haryana as its neighbouring states. The state is most famous for its hill stations, with Shimla being a real tourist favourite. Shimla happens to be the capital of the state with Dharamsala being the winter capital. Himachal Pradesh, or HP as it is referred to sometimes, has an installed and commissioned rooftop capacity of 0.33MW with .13MW commissioned in the FY 2016/17. In order to promote solar and encourage the investment, Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission has framed regulations offering a fixed tariff of Rs 5 per unit for extra energy produced and fed back to the grid. This is one of the highest tariffs for Net Metering in the country. Himachal Pradesh is also encouraging farmers and unemployed youth to set up projects in distributed fashion. These plants will be typically in the range of 500KW to 5MW. There are also plans to set up solar parks in the state. Even though there are no real large-scale solar power plants in the state, the state is purchasing up to 35MW solar power from plants outside the state. As a part of the target set for the National Solar Mission, Himachal Pradesh is chasing 220 MW solar commissioned capacity by the year 2022.