A Net Zero Emission India with Rooftop Solar Systems

Posted on 05 Feb 2023

In late 2021 while addressing delegates during the COP 26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow the Prime Minister of India had stressed that India would cut its emissions to Net Zero by 2070. This can be realized when a greater number of households install solar plants on their roofs.

As a follow up in February 2022 the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy simplified the procedures to install rooftop solar plant for residential consumers. A national portal for registration was set up. It was also made clear that consumers can hire vendors of their choice.

Residents of India by setting up rooftop solar panels can steeply scale down their monthly electricity bills and interestingly solar panels have longer shelf-life making it an economical option.

So, what is a rooftop solar power?

A rooftop solar power is a photovoltaic system where solar panels are mounted on rooftops for generating power. The installed solar photovoltaic modules convert solar energy into electricity. Crystalline silicon solar photovoltaic modules are popular and so are many other technologies.

India has vast untapped solar energy. As per the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy estimates the country’s land area has access to around 5,000 trillion kilowatt hours per year covering its landscape with most parts receiving 4-7 kilowatt hours per square metre per day.

This when effectively harnessed can provide huge scalability. Solar energy also has the potential to generate volumes of electricity in one go for large-scale distribution. It has faster capacity addition within short lead times.

Moreover, solar energy is one of the safest bets as it is relatively harmless and is easily accessible. Even when a fraction of what is available is captured realistically then India can meet all of its power requirements.

Solar energy usage has been happening at a rapid pace in recent times in India. Many households in rural areas have already switched to solar energy for cooking, lighting and other uses. This has been yielding good social, economic and health benefits besides employment generation in villages.

The National Institute of Solar Energy, an autonomous institution under Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had estimated that India has solar potential of around 750 gigawatts of which some can be used for grid connected solar rooftop systems.

Countries that had participated in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference in Paris in the year 2015 had affirmed their intention to have in place a new international climate agreement.

India as one of the signatories agreed to achieve around 40% of electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel by 2030, a record jump of 33% over non-fossil capacity of 2015. The government has ambitious plans which can be realized only when rooftop solar installations succeed.

In 2015, the Union Government had initiated the Grid Connected Rooftop and Small Solar Power Plants Programme for installation of 4200 megawatt RTS plants in India by 2019-20, of which 2,100 megawatt was through central financial assistance and the rest 2,100 megawatt without it.

As the next step to achieve the cumulative capacity of 40 gigawatts RTS plants by 2022 the government in 2019 sanctioned Phase-II of the programme.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy began Phase-II of the grid connected rooftop solar scheme in India. In July 2022 it launched the national portal for rooftop solar with nearly 90,000 registrations and over 36,000 applications.

Commenting on the delay an official said that the ministry couldn’t find the right vendors for implementing the programme. However, vendors have been identified and the programme has taken off, the successful implementation of which will eventually bring down the costs.

For making solar energy popular, the government has created SPIN, an online portal for solar photovoltaic installation (grid connected rooftop) for expediting project approval, report submission and monitoring the progress of RTS projects.

It is important to note that all solar photovoltaic systems generate power only during the day when sunlight is available. By using the net metred system, the generated power can be utilized for self-consumption and excess power can be exported to the grid. Where solar power is inadequate due to clouds in the sky, power can be drawn from the grid to empower the loads.

The Ministry of Power has brought in an amendment to the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020 regarding net metering for rooftop solar installations. As per the new rules the Commission would permit net metering to the consumer for loads up to 500 kilowatt or up to the sanctioned load, whichever is lower and net-billing or net feed-in for other loads.

India has many micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and more often than not these MSMEs face finance crunch. Rooftop solar offers excellent value proposition for the MSMEs by reducing the cost of electricity consumption significantly.

A significantly large amount (on an average about Rs.8 or higher per unit) is paid by MSMEs towards electricity consumption, coming to about one-fifth of the overall production costs. With solar power rates hovering at Rs. 1.99/kWh, MSMEs get good opportunities to reduce expenses.

Importantly MSMEs are in urgent need of cost-effective electricity to optimize their production costs, recoup losses from the global pandemic and remain competitive in domestic and global marketplaces. Tapping into solar energy is the best way to do so.

As wind energy is limited to the coastal regions and hydro-projects need intensive capital investment, investing in solar power would be ideal for as it doesn’t need a huge capital stimulus. It will also enable India to attain energy security and meet energy demands without putting strain on non-renewable energy sources.