The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the PM Modi recently given its approval for the Phase-II of Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Programme for achieving cumulative capacity of 40 GW from Rooftop Solar (RTS) Projects by the year 2022.
The programme will be implemented with total central financial support of Rs.11,814 crore.
Appreciating the government’s move Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power said “Tata Power welcomes this decision. The approval for the second phase of grid-connected rooftop solar (RTS) programme will give a big push for achieving a total targeted installation of 40 GW of rooftop solar (RTS) by 2022.The second phase that seeks to extend financial support of between 20-40% of the cost depending on the size of the installation is a crucial element of the policy decision by the government announced today.
Sinha added “Heavy front-ended investment of RTS has been the single biggest challenge holding back its deeper penetration, particularly in rural and semi-urban parts of the country. Sinha added RTS not only offers a cleaner source of energy to the masses but also helps in reducing transmission and distribution losses in the Indian power sector, which is currently around 20%.The latest policy initiative that offers financial assistance for Group Housing Societies and Residential Welfare Associations should also help better adoption of RTS among residential power consumers, which is only around 9% to the total RTS installed in the country (against almost 70% by industrial and commercial users).As a leading in RTS service provider, with nearly 3 decade of experience (since 1991), the company’s services are already available in Delhi, Mumbai, Ajmer, Ahmedabad , Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kochi, Chandigarh and Bhubaneswar with a cumulative installation of over 250 MW and plan to expand across India in FY20.”
In the Phase-II Programme Central Financial Assistance (CFA) for the residential sector has been restructured with availability of 40% CFA for RTS systems up to 3 kW capacity and 20% for RTS system capacity beyond 3 kW and up to 10 kW.
For Group Housing Societies/Residential Welfare Associations (GHS/RAW), CFA will be limited to 20% for RTS plants for supply of power to common facilities, however, the capacity eligible for CFA for GHS/RAW will be limited to 10 kW per house with maximum total capacity upto 500 kWp, inclusive of RTS put in individual houses in the GHS/RWA.
CFA under residential category will be provided for 4000 MW capacity and the same will be provided on the basis of benchmark cost or tender cost, which is lower.
Central financial support will not be available for other category i.e., institutional, educational, social, government, commercial, industrial, etc.
Under Phase-II Programme, focus will be on increased involvement of DISCOMs. Performance based incentives will be provided to DISCOMs based on RTS capacity achieved in a financial year (i.e. 1st April to 31st March every year till the duration of the scheme) over and above the base capacity i.e. cumulative capacity achieved at the end of previous financial year.