“Tamil Nadu Is Moving Naturally Towards Renewables Plus Storage”

As climate risks intensify and decarbonisation moves to the centre of economic policy, states are under growing pressure to align development with sustainability. Tamil Nadu, which is the manufacturing hub of the country, is taking active efforts to become a key player in this transition. The state is set to host the fourth edition of the Tamil Nadu Climate Summit, a platform to highlight the state's pioneering efforts in driving climate governance, policy innovation, and climate innovation at large scale on 17th and 18th February 2026, where the focus will be on achieving carbon neutrality and advancing climate action.  

CarbonCopy had an opportunity to interact with Dr. Aneesh Sekhar, Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Green Energy Corporation. A state-run company incorporated in 2024 to fast-track wind, solar, and hydro projects with a single window clearance system. In this interview, Sekhar draws upon the initiative taken up by the corporation since its inception and the state’s efforts towards decarbonisation, open access power model, EV infrastructure, and the state’s preparedness for European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

Tamil Nadu is set to host the fourth edition of Tamil Nadu Climate Summit with experts like Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Dr Balakrishna Pisupati headlining the event. How far has TNGEC come since its inception and what are some of the targets the state is hoping to look forward to? 

Tamil Nadu Climate Summit is an occasion for the best minds to come together in a dialogue to proactively address the challenge of climate change. The energy sector being the major contributor towards emissions has the opportunity to contribute maximum towards decarbonisation. This can happen with sustained focus on energy efficiency, demand side management and transition to renewables. The sector in each of these domains is fast evolving from a policy and technology perspective. The Tamil Nadu Climate Summit can become the decisive platform where ambition turns into action and vision transforms into measurable impact.

 EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism rules are effective from 1st January 2026. So, how is the state going to support the decarbonisation of the heavy industries through power and energy mix? 

In Tamil Nadu, most of the export oriented industries are already connected to our open access system, through captive generation. These industries are partly generating their own power by partly owning the renewable assets, while using the state grid for connectivity.

Almost 80% of the solar and wind installed in Tamil Nadu is in open access. That means, the consumer and the generator are directly buying and selling without the DISCOMs intermediation, and at least 95%of that is green power. So, most of the industries here are already conforming to these regulations and the kind of requirements that are there. 

We have done this by facilitating open access like no other state has. If you look at many other states, they might be having solar and wind, but mostly it will be either selling to other states like Gujarat and Rajasthan, they sell mostly to other states or they will be selling it to DISCOMs. Here in Tamil Nadu, it has been directly between industry and generators.

Those industries which have these requirements are proactively tied up and they have also been given banking facilities by the Tamil Nadu government and we are one of the only states which gives an annual banking facility. That means, they can give the power during wind generation season and then utilise that for the remaining part of the season.

This flexibility has helped the export-focused industries to meet their requirements when it comes to utilisation of renewable energy. As a result, most of the industries conform to these CBAM requirements and a few might be on the borderline or they may have some catching up wherein I am sure they will be doing it.

TNGECL has also invited bids for converting old wind farms to hybrid solar wind farms. How is this hybridisation going to improve the overall grid stability in the state? 

It is a flagship effort because repowering of old windmills has not taken off well in Tamil Nadu. So, as a state, we had to demonstrate that this is possible and it has advantages and it is a commercially rewarding thing.

We are taking this initiative and showing it as a model for repowering because the industry has to come forward. We are a relatively very small part of the entire energy mix. Today, we are doing somewhere close to 30-35 MW. But total renewable energy, including solar and wind, is around 23 GW. 

Once we show the way, we expect the private sector also to follow and repower. We estimate that almost 2,500 MW of machines can be repowered. 

Tamil Nadu has set an ambitious target of achieving 50,000 MW of solar capacity by 2035. Given land acquisition challenges and competing land-use priorities in the state, how does the government plan to scale solar capacity while managing land and transmission constraints?

There are issues around land. Utility scale solar is one way of doing it, but we are also looking at multiple other avenues. Given,Tamil Nadu is a land-rich state where there is limited wasteland as compared to other parts of the country. However, land constraint is still a secondary issue. 

The major issue that we are currently facing is transmission. Even with land availability, evacuating power from the generation centre to consumption centres is challenging. 

We plan to address these issues through a mix of both, expansion of utility scale solar and addition of transmission infrastructure.

We are making a green energy corridor and developing a 765 kV corridor capable of evacuating close to 3,000 MW from southern Tamil Nadu. These projects are already in advanced stages and will take close to 2 years to complete. 

Additionally, we are also looking at distributed renewable energy, coupled with distributed storage. We will have storage at the distribution level at the low voltage substations so that the surplus energy is not pumped up into the grid, it is stored and utilised during non-solar hours. In urban areas where there is a land constraint, we will be focussing on rooftops.

The renewable energy capacity of India has passed the 50% mark and even in Tamil Nadu, it is third highest overall in the country, but generation in the state as well as at the country level still remains at the lower end as compared to the capacity. What could be the next step to increase this renewable energy generation in the state as well as how will we phase out thermal energy like what is Tamil Nadu's plan for phasing out from thermal energy? 

In the past year, the cost of storage, especially battery energy storage, has come down and now it has become cheaper than thermal. It is a very natural transition for states like Tamil Nadu, which does not have coal in its own backyard-to-move forward with renewable energy plus storage.

But the state will also have to be very careful in this transition, as thermal energy cannot be phased out abruptly energy security and reliability remain critical. The storage technologies are still at an initial stage, and their long-term performance and reliability must be carefully monitored. 

As confidence in grid-scale storage builds over the next few years, a gradual transition away from thermal and towards solar storage and wind will occur.

Tamil Nadu is positioning itself as a green hydrogen hub, with large projects in Tuticorin and research support from IIT Madras. How does the state see green hydrogen being absorbed by heavy industries, particularly those that are hard to abate under conventional electrification pathways?

Most of the green hydrogen that is being manufactured in India is for export, and not for capital consumption.

India has very few green hydrogen options, mostly in the form of green ammonia and green methanol. It is being manufactured in Tuticorin and only one of the players is manufacturing pure green hydrogen that is also for export purposes. 

Green hydrogen as such is not a source for energy generation or energy storage as it stands today. It is more to help with hard to abate industries such as steel and heavy industry. 

Processes like high temperature heating and ore smelting require fuel rather than electricity. In this application, green hydrogen can replace fossil fuels. Broader use in transportation are emerging but are still at an early stage.

Energy storage is emerging as a critical enabler of Tamil Nadu’s renewable transition. Could you outline the state’s strategy for scaling battery energy storage systems and pumped storage projects, and the role they will play in achieving long-term energy security?

Two options for storage should exist. One is pumped storage and another is battery storage. We already have one pumped storage that is Kadamparai in Coimbatore district, which is a 400 MW pumped storage. Another one at Kunda is under construction, which will be a 500MW pumped storage.

We have another four projects lined up that are in various stages of implementation under the bidding stage, not under execution stage. These projects have a life cycle of at least 5 to 6 years. Kunda will be commissioned in another 6 to 8 months but the other pumped storage projects will take at least 5 to 6 years to complete. 

They have a time lag but once they are completed their assets will live for at least 50 years, 100 years. They will be long-living assets, but there will again be a lot of constraints when it comes to pumped storage because most of the pumped storage projects come up in environmentally sensitive areas.

Then, there will be a long drawn process to get the forest and environmental clearance. There will be a lot of safeguards towards that. We are doing another 4,000 MW of pumped storage projects, 4,000 to 5,000 MW of pumped storage projects are also in the pipeline.

Pumped storage is one area where we are looking at for storage, another area is battery storage. Both the projects combined will help us with the current storage issues as consumption happens during non-solar hours. 

Tamil Nadu Green Energy Corporation has been actively expanding EV charging infrastructure. Beyond public charging stations, how is the state integrating EV charging into urban planning, workplaces, and residential complexes to align with renewable energy availability?

We have an EV charging roadmap on how to promote public, semi-public, and private charging. Public charging is picking up very rapidly, with a lot of new charging point operators coming in.

Semi-public charging holds a lot of potential, particularly in apartment complexes and office car parkings. These areas offer convenient parking and the power is also available at a cheaper cost during off peak hours, making them ideal for charging.

So, if you could get your cars to charge during solar hours then you will have to make parking available or charging available at the parking locations in the office. So, creating such charging points available at your place of work or parkings in apartment complexes during day time is something that we are looking at.

Based on Tamil Nadu Green Energy Corporation’s recommendation, the Tamil Nadu combined building development rules were recently amended. These rules now include a clause where an agreed parking lot should be given with a provision for charging.