Although a draft policy to harness solar energy has been rolled out by the Delhi government, the target of generating 1,000 megawatt solar power by 2020 is likely to be an uphill task.
In Delhi, domestic consumers have 49 per cent area available to harness solar power, while commercial, industrial and government sectors together constitute the remaining 51 per cent.
Experts have suggested that instead of focusing on the domestic sector in the initial leg, the Delhi government should first turn to commercial and industrial consumers. This is because given the existing cost of solar power (approx Rs. 6 per unit), most households would find it to be an unviable proposition.
Pramod Deo, former chairperson of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) said, “Solar power generation makes sense for those who have larger consumption of around 5,000 – 10,000 units. Industries and commercial consumers would benefit as they would not have to buy expensive power from the usual thermal plants. Government buildings should also be pursued,” Mr. Deo said.
Keeping Delhi in mind, where many people live in multi-storeyed buildings with multiple power connections, sharing terraces and solar power will be an issue, he added. Adding to this, power expert Subhash Sethi said, “If anybody in the domestic category could install solar power, it would be the high-end consumers. In that too, many would not prefer to part with their terraces, which they otherwise use for personal purposes. For residents who pay Rs. 2, or even Rs. 7.30, installation of solar panels would only be an additional expenditure.”
Storage of solar power is also an issue because of which most experts believe the concept of “virtual net metering” introduced in the draft solar policy is going to be a distant goal. “Storage of power will be the real ice breaker in the solar energy sector. At present, the average cost of lithium-ion battery packs is still Rs. 65,129 per kilowatt hour,” said another power expert.
About the virtual net metering system, they said, “That is something which cannot be implemented by the Delhi government. It will have to be added in the net metering regulations by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission .”
Another sticky point is that implementation part of the solar policy will lie with the municipal corporations, which are responsible for building by-laws. “How swiftly people get the necessary approvals remains to be seen. Enthusiastic people should not be bogged down by the numerous formalities required to instal solar panels,” said Mr. Deo.
