 "Solar power, Solar PV, Adani")
As many as 10 million homes in the country will get rooftop solar power for free electricity, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Interim Budget speech on Thursday, taking forward the theme of taking green energy to consumers.
“Through rooftop solarisation, one crore households will be enabled to obtain up to 300 units free electricity every month. Saving up to Rs 15-18,000 annually for households from free solar electricity and selling the surplus to the distribution companies,” Sitharaman said.
Rooftop solar on households entails installing a maximum capacity of 10 kilowatt. A rough industry calculation shows close to 300 units can be generated through systems of this size, helping consumers to have free electricity and saving a similar bill amount on grid-connected electricity. If generated more than consumption, the solar power can be fed into a grid and a household can earn the same from a power distribution company (discom).
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 22 had announced a new scheme called Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana to install rooftop solar panels on 10 million households.
The scheme entails installing solar photovoltaic (PV) panels: The system can either be with a battery storage system or without it and it is connected with the main supply unit. It helps a household or establishment reduce its consumption of grid-connected electricity supplied by discoms. In a solar rooftop system, there is only an upfront capital investment and minimal cost for maintenance. The cost varies based on the size and capacity of the solar PV and the battery.
The central government has a National Rooftop Scheme which provides financial assistance of 40 per cent of the capital cost of a solar rooftop project. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy selects the projects based on submissions made by discoms, wherein private contractors/vendors selected by the discoms build the said project. There have been instances of fraud where some rooftop solar companies/vendors claimed that they are authorized vendors by the Ministry. The ministry recently issued several notices saying no vendor has been authorized by the Ministry.
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‘Business Standard’ recently reported, the government is shifting its focus on decentralised solar for meeting the green energy targets. For the same, it is being mulled to hand the scheme to the leading power sector financer REC Limited to spread its reach across the country and plug the inefficiencies. REC in the past has been the nodal agency for various flagship energy access schemes of the Centre, most notably being the rural electrification under the DDUGJY and the PM-SAUBHAGYA scheme.
