As part of its efforts to boost solar power generation in the country, the Department of Financial Services, Union Ministry of Finance, has issued instructions to public sector banks to encourage clients seeking either home loans or home improvement loans to install rooftop solar photo voltaic plants and include their cost in the loan proposal. This was stated in a Press Information Bureau (PIB) report, which also said that the Union Ministry for New and Renewable Energy was in the process of implementing a ‘grid-connected rooftop and small solar power plants programme’ to encourage installation of rooftop systems for power generation.
The report said that 17 states in the country already had a regulatory framework on net metering to encourage rooftop solar power generation systems.
Subsidy reducedThe Ministry has also announced that the subsidy on rooftop solar power generation system was being reduced to 15 per cent from the previous 30 per cent in keeping with the falling price of solar panels.
This decision, it said, was also in part due to a paucity of subsidy funds. However, other provisions like concessional import duty, excise duty exemption, accelerated depreciation, and tax holiday for setting up grid-linked solar power facility would continue.
Commitment of statesThe Ministry has also come out with a list of banks and financial institutions that have committed as much as Rs. 3,52,640 crore for generating 70,505 MW of green energy up to 2021-22. Among the banks are State Bank of India (SBI), which has committed Rs. 75,000 crore for producing 15,000 MW of green power, ICICI Bank that has committed Rs. 37,500 crore for 7,500 MW, and State Bank of Travancore (SBT) that has committed Rs. 1,250 crore for 250 MW. These commitments were made during the recent RE-INVEST 2015, a renewable energy global investor meet and expo in Delhi.
