BIS-norm to be a must for solar water heaters

July 08, 2016 10:59 pm | Updated October 18, 2016 02:39 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) 02-04-2013: Solar Water heater installed on the terrace of a apartment in Visakhapatnam. --Photo: A.Manikanta Kumar

Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) 02-04-2013: Solar Water heater installed on the terrace of a apartment in Visakhapatnam. --Photo: A.Manikanta Kumar

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is working on a ‘quality order’ to make it compulsory for all solar water heaters installed in buildings to be certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), according to a senior ministry official.

This follows a BIS announcement on the quality standards for evacuated tube collector-based solar water heaters, which have rapidly become the design of choice for such water heaters.

Norms soon

“There are many formalities and technicalities that have to be negotiated, so I cannot give you an exact time when we will issue the quality order making it (the use of BIS-certified solar water heaters) mandatory, but the Ministry is working on it and it should be done soon,” Tarun Kapoor, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said .

The Indian government used to subsidise solar water heaters, but stopped the practice in September 2014, leading to an increase in imports from China, which offered products up to 50 per cent cheaper than Indian alternatives.

“Prior to the removal of the subsidy, Indian manufacturers used to import only the tube used in the ETC-solar heaters,” Jaideep Malaviya, Secretary General of the Solar Thermal Federation of India, said. “Now they are importing the full product. The imports became so cheap that the local manufacturers could not survive.”

China factor

“In some cases the price differential is almost half,” Mr. Malaviya added. “Where it costs about Rs.15,000 for a 100 litre solar water heater, the Chinese products are selling at Rs.8,500.” While this may seem to double the cost of such water heaters for Indian customers, domestic manufacturers say that the poorer quality of the Chinese products results in a higher replacement and repair cost, which makes up the difference in the upfront price of the product.

“The thickness of the inner tank in the Chinese products is very thin, about 0.3 mm,” R.Sethurraman, proprietor of Solar Hitech Systems based in Bengaluru said.

“While it depends on the level of chlorides and nitrates in the water in different regions, this low level of thickness is such that the walls will corrode anywhere in the country within a year. Even 0.5 mm does not last more than a year in some regions.”

Poor durability

This was corroborated by the customers The Hindu spoke to. They pointed to the poor durability of the products as a major source of additional expense.

Another factor is that the Chinese products are being used to bypass the intention of rules set by states.

“In Karnataka, for example, there is a specific rule mentioning that there must be a 100 litre solar water heater per building,” Mr. Sethurraman added. “So they get a cheap quality one just to get the required approval. Whether it works or not, nobody cares.”

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