Despite Gurgaon’s earnest efforts to increase its solar imprint, the sector has failed to pick up pace. To address this concern, a workshop of all concerned stakeholders in the solar sector was conducted in the city yesterday. It was attended by officials of Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), Haryana department of renewable energy (Hareda), NGOs, RWAs, solar manufacturers, and solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) players. Gurgaon News
The workshop identified key bottlenecks in developing solar power in Gurgaon, and discussed action to remove the same. Discussions were held on introducing innovative financing mechanisms, such as municipal bonds, as well as newer business operational models for the sector.
Most felt discoms should take a lead in creating a market for solar energy.
Shubhra Puri, founder of Gurgaon First, an NGO, explained solar cost basics, financial models, and national, state and Gurgaon scenario. He also described concerns for users while switching to solar power.
R K Singh, ADC, Gurgaon, assured that all feedback on the solar policy and other issues would be addressed by the administration.
Rameshwar Singh, project officer, Hareda, said, “The city has about 25 MW of installed solar power, of which 5 MW is subsidised. There are about 500 net metering projects currently operational in the city and net-metering issues are being resolved on a case-to-case basis with assistance from DHBVNL officials.”
Net metering regulations ensure that consumers can become power exporters by installing net meters on their premises and export surplus power to the grid and get a discount on the power bill. This policy was first announced in 2014 and reworked in 2015.
Haryana has also mandated every new building built over a 500 square yard area to have solar panels that meets at least 5 per cent of its energy needs.
Apart from this, the solar generating consumers can export solar electricity at the same price that they are buying from the grid. So, as grid prices rise, so will the price of exported solar electricity. Secondly, since consumer’s consumption from the grid reduces due to switching to solar power, the consumer shifts to a lower slab in the tariff rate, and lower slabs ensure lower per unit electricity rates.
The third incentive for those putting up solar panels is a rebate of Rs 1 per unit (for residential buildings) and 0.25 paise per unit (on other sectors) on the gross amount of solar power generated at the end of the financial year.
