Solar Trailblazers Conference Wows Bengaluru With High Energy Show

Karnataka was the state in focus, as Solar Trailblazers, a solar industry event organised by Saur Energy, finally arrived in Bengaluru. Among the larger states of India, Karnataka ranks at the top in terms of share of green energy in the state's total capacity, at over 65% including large Hydro. That, and the knowledgeable and dynamic community of renewable professionals in the state, was a key reason for Solar Trailblazers making a pit stop in the city. 

The event got a superb start with a keynote by Shri Srinivasappa, Member (Technical), Karnataka State Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC). He delved deep into his previous roles at KSPDCL, KREDL and now KERC, to track Karnataka's renewable journey for the audience. The state, which built the showpiece, the Pavagada Solar Park way before any other region globally, has shown the way with not only its equitable approach to thorny issues like land use, but also regulators and discoms that have played their role. 

State's Unique RE Journey

Add to that progressive corporates and industrial customers, and it has almost 9.6 GW of solar capacity today, out of a total renewable capacity of close to 19.6 GW.  As the state that was the first to have an RE policy in South India, by 2013-14, the state had set a target to reach 6000 MW by 2017-18.

By 2018, the state had awarded 5000 MW in a year for development. Upto 2019-20, the state was no 1 across India. He highlighted regulations like peer-to-peer, ancillary services regulations, and resource adequacy regulations that have all been designed to support renewable growth. He highlighted constraints linked to transmission that are the key hurdles to faster growth in the future. Highlighting projects taken up particularly in the Northern part of Karnataka, Srinivasappa expressed optimism that the state would continue to contribute significantly to national goals going ahead.   

The keynote was followed by a string of engaging panel discussions featuring industry leaders from the region and beyond, covering issues as wide-ranging as the growth of solar rooftop, green jobs and skills, expected growth from the C&I segment, and the future implications of joint solar and storage projects. The discussions drew strong interest from the knowledgeable audience as well.

Technical Pitches

All this was interspersed with technical pitches from leading firms, including Deye Inverters and DhaSh PV. A packed hall barely saw anyone leave, as guests enjoyed and took advantage of an opportunity to interact with speakers after their sessions as well.   

SaurEnergy is grateful to the sponsors who backed us for the show, a list that includes Deye Inverters, Solis Inverters, Insolation Energy, POM Power, Cosmic PV, Dhash PV, Oswal Solar and Gautam Solar. A special thanks also to our region partners, the Karnataka Regional Energy Association (KREA), represented by its President, Shri Raghunandan and Secretary Shri Prasanna. 

The SaurEnergy team would also like to thank all the awardees who were recognised for their efforts as Solar Trailblazers. A special note must be made here for the two colleges in the list, St. Aloysius (Mangalore) and St  Joseph (Bengaluru), institutions that adopted solar from 2018 onwards against all odds and served to demonstrate the benefits to many subsequent followers in the state. 

Keep watching this space for detailed coverage of all the sessions.