While the central and State governments have done a ‘good’ job regarding rooftop solar policies, there are some specific changes to the net metering rules and plant size specifications that can accelerate adoption, according to Cleanmax Solar.
The government has set a target of 40 GW of power from rooftop solar installations by 2022, but is still very far from achieving it, with installed capacity at the moment at only 1.5 GW across the country.
“The 40 GW target is imminently achievable, because the fundamentals of the Indian solar rooftop market are very positive,” Sushant Arora, co-founder of Cleanmax Solar said in an interview. “Nationwide, most states have a grid price that is higher than rooftop solar. For instance, in Maharashtra, industrial users buy power at Rs 9 per unit, whereas they can get it at Rs 5 from rooftop solar.”
However, in order for adoption to gain pace, and for the 40 GW target to be achieved, some constraints in the policies need to be removed, Mr Arora added.
“For instance, does there need to be a size restriction on the solar capacity on the roof,” he asked. “Or can the government allow you to cover the full roof? Today, many people with large roofs, for instance, an automobile manufacturing company, may have space worth 20 MW of solar power, but the policy allows only 1 MW of installed capacity. If you lift that restriction, you can imagine the capacity addition among those people who have already adopted rooftop solar and are seeing the cost benefit.”
Another issue with most of the state-level policies is that they don’t have set timelines for the any of the benefits or subsidies they offer solar plants.
“If I set up a solar plant and begin getting the subsidies or benefits associated with that, such as zero electricity duty, I can’t be sure whether these subsidies will last across the life of the solar contract,” Mr Arora said. “You don’t want to be putting up a solar plant knowing that the incentives could be gone in two years. So, when the solar policy gets revised, it’s always good to have a timeline for these.”
He gave the example of Karnataka and Maharashtra, which have both successfully set timelines for various policies, which have greatly helped their rooftop solar sectors.
“Karnataka has a policy issued in 2015 that clearly specifies that when you commission your solar plant, your benefits will be there for 10 years after that. That sort of clarity has really helped the Karnataka market,” Mr Arora said. “Maharashtra has a net metering policy where you sign a 20 year contract with the distribution company, which gives a comfort that the assumptions made while signing the contract don’t suddenly change.”
He also added that there are some policies that have introduced provisions that have only added to the confusion, such as the most recent policy put in place by Gujarat.
“Gujarat, in its most recent policy, says that if it’s your own plant, then you can do net metering,” Mr Arora said. “There is no clarity on whether the intent was that way or not, but it is being interpreted to mean that you have to now own your own solar plant for you to be able to get net metering, as opposed to if, say, Cleanmax Solar owns your plant and sets it up for you.”
“That distinction has caused quite a bit of confusion,” he added. “It’s an example of another thing that can be avoided when the policies are reviewed.”
