With less than four years left to meet its target of installing 40,000 megawatt (MW) of rooftop solar power capacity by 2022, India has installed just about 2,538 MW as of March 2018, a full 94 per cent short of target.
Rooftop solar has been a key part of the recent renewables revolution around the world, and its appeal is clear–residential, commercial and industrial buildings can generate their own electricity, which is green and potentially less expensive than the power they draw from the grid. What’s more, they can inject excess power back into the grid and get paid for it.
India’s ambitious target, in fact, is backed by a 30 per cent subsidy for residential buildings. But this has failed to enthuse home owners, the majority of whom pay small electricity bills and find the cost of solar equipment prohibitive in comparison. For the vast majority of home-owners, however, the subsidized power from the grid is so cheap that it does not make economic sense to spend on expensive solar power systems.
Businesses don’t want to get into the residential sector because the subsidy is not enough, the paperwork is too much, one is forced to use domestic equipment that is not the best in the market, and then one needs to get an inflated invoice because companies want to claim more subsidy.
Perhaps the biggest challenge the rooftop solar segment faces is opposition from discoms. In the current scenario, there is no incentive for discoms. “Not only do they lose their high tariff paying customers, they also have to undertake extra efforts to upgrade distribution infrastructure and provide free metering and banking services to rooftop solar projects.”
Government will have to remove these hurdles if they really wish a better rooftop installed base by 2022.
Reference- ET