Delhi's power regulator has called for public feedback on a policy
that will allow consumers to use solar panels to generate electricity at
their homes and also sell excess power if any.
The draft proposal on net metering, posted on the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission's (DERC) website, is open for feedback till December 31.
Renewable energy analysts say the draft proposal is contradictory and
could benefit private power distribution companies, leaving little
incentive for domestic consumers.
The draft also proposes use of a net meter—a bi-directional energy
meter that registers both import and export of electricity. The
mechanism also facilitates consumers to minimize their electricity bill
by generating their own power and sell extra power to the power
distribution company.
Two ways to generate and sell solar power
A family can put up a solar system on the rooftop of its house either
by investing on its own or by leasing out its rooftop to a third party
that will install the solar system and collect monthly rental from the
consumer.
In the second arrangement, a consumer will save the upfront
investment cost and also the power it will otherwise consume from the
grid. The third party will get the rental and can claim depreciation on
the capital cost of the Photovoltaic (PV) systems with associated direct
tax benefits.
Delhi has nearly 30 lakh households and anywhere between 250 and 300
sunny days in a year, and more than 700 square kilometres of built-up
area for installing PV systems. On an average, a PV system installed on
one square metre can produce nearly 5.31 kilowatt hours per day. “The
prevailing scenario of declining trend in solar tariff and increasing
retail tariff across most consumer categories like residential,
commercial and industrial would encourage consumers to install rooftop
solar systems,” states the DERC proposal.
Proposal has little incentive for customers
But some renewable energy analysts are skeptical. They have raised
concerns that the proposal sides with the private distribution companies
and does not offer many incentives to consumers to put up solar panels
on their rooftops. Abhishek Pratap, senior energy campaigner with
non-profit Greenpeace India, points to a clause in the proposal which
seeks to limit the capacity of a rooftop solar PV system that a
household can install to the sanctioned load of that household.
For example, if the sanctioned load of a household is five kilowatt,
it can put up a solar system with a maximum capacity of five kilowatt
even if the rooftop area permits for more capacity to be installed. “But
since the efficiency of solar panels is around 15 per cent to 19 per
cent, the output for a five kilowatt system would be just one kilowatt
or two kilowatt.
As a result there would hardly be any surplus power and the consumer
would have to buy a major part from private distribution companies,”
says Pratap. This goes against the very idea of solar rooftop promotion,
as the consumer would have virtually no incentive to install a solar
power system, he adds.
The DERC proposal says if consumers install a solar system with a
capacity higher than the sanctioned load, they would have to pay charges
for installation of a new service line and related infrastructure
because in sanctioned load limit the same service line which is used to
get electricity can be used to feed in extra power. “It is a draft
proposal. Comments are welcome. We will see how feasible they are,” said
Prashant Kumar, Director (Tariff), DERC to Down To Earth.
Another point of contention is that the proposal seeks to provide the
lowest applicable tariff in case of excess generation. Renewable energy
analysts say the global practice is to give feed-in-tariff to the
generator of renewable energy.
“If you give the lowest applicable tariff, who would install solar
panels at their houses?” says Pratap. DERC’s order says it has been done
to safeguard the interest of power distribution companies.
The proposal also says the cumulative capacity of solar rooftops
should not exceed 15 per cent of the capacity of a distribution
transformer. The DERC says rooftop solar systems can proliferate very
fast, and as a result can have an impact on the local grid. Analysts say
this is not a convincing reason because if solar rooftops proliferate,
the capacity of transformers can be upgraded. Instead of capping the
capacity of solar rooftops the governments should invest in upgrading
infrastructure. Kumar says, “15 per cent limit is given considering the
current capacity of the distribution transformers. If the load of
rooftop solar power increases in an area, the limit can be revised and
capacity of the transformers can be upgraded.”
