INDIA’S ROOFTOP SOLAR MARKET – HIGH ON OPPORTUNTIES AND LOADED WITH CHALLENGES

BANGALORE/PFORZHEIM/FREIBURG: Net metering was introduced in India as a measure to make rooftop solar more accessible and economical for electricity consumers. However, implementation across many states have been slow due to various challenges, more particularly DISCOMS fear of losing premier C&I customers. The rooftop capacity therefore has barely crossed 2.5% of the 40% of the national solar target. However, the segment is expected to pick up momentum with the launch of the “Sustainable Rooftop Implementation for Solar Transfiguration of India “(SRISTI) scheme which addresses DISCOM’s concerns.

With electrically powered gadgets becoming an essential part of everyone’s life universal access to electricity has become a necessity as never before in India. Simultaneously power prices are rising and more and more cities are choking alarmingly with pollution. Clean solar energy has the great advantage of being put to use both as a small decentralized power generator of few tens of watts and as a centralized mega centralized power plants.

Commercial and Industrial rooftop solar market has been rising over the last two years, driven by the huge savings energy cost and the availability of attractive financial models. Low cost financing from multilateral agencies like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, KfW etc are also helping the market growth. The C&I segment has accounted for close to 70% of the total rooftop solar installations. However, the market potential still remains hugely under exploited. Among the serious constraints are: 1) DISCOMS’s disinterest for fear of losing high tariff paying C&I customers which helps them in offsetting the social burden of offering cheap or free power to agricultural sector. 2) Metering policies of states: many lack clarity and they are not aligned across the states. 3) Serious issues like the possibility of abrupt downward revision of tariff orders looms large.

Over the past few years the residential electricity tariffs have been rising sharply and the electricity payout is hurting. Simultaneously, driven by enhanced media focus and the growing tribe of solar entrepreneurs, the market for residential solar is growing. However, despite the huge potential remains the market growth is disappointingly low. Among the many challenges are suitability of roof, allowable size, metering policies, ease of getting low cost financing and subsidy.

Recognizing that DISCOMs are central to reach the goal, The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has announced an achievement linked financial support scheme to them to accelerate rooftop solar deployment in the targeted segments: Residential, Commercial, Social, Governmental and Institutional. Further, to make rooftop solar attractive to the residential segment, 30% capital subsidy on the MNRE bench marked price for a max size of 5KW is proposed. The scheme called “Sustainable Rooftop Implementation for Solar Transfiguration of India (SRISTI) is planned to be implemented with a provision of Rs. 23,450 Crores. The rooftop solar installed capacity barely reached 2.5 GW in August which is just 6.25% of the targeted 40GW under the National Solar mission. A lot needs to be done to reach the target and to realize the huge advantage of Rooftop Solar.

Experts from the industry, policy makers and market researchers will share their experience and views and suggest the ways to accelerate the market during three rooftop conference sessions at Intersolar India on December 11-13, 2018 in Bangalore. Andrew Hines, Co-founder of CleanMax Solar will give a mid-term outlook for rooftop PV in India. Ryan Cook Senior Consultant at Meister Consultants Group will talk about residential market push through PV-rooftop demand aggregation. R.K. Jain, Addl. General Manager (Solar) at Solar Energy Corporation of India will talk about the successes and constraints of the rooftop solar growth in India. Afterwards Anuvrat Joshi, India Business Development Director at Cleantech Solar Energy (India) Pvt. Ltd. will address key trends, opportunities & challenges in adoption and scaling of industrial solar. Furthermore, in a session organized by swissnex India, experts from Switzerland will showcase proven BIPV technologies and applications for more energy efficient buildings, innovative rooftop structures, and sustainable Greentech solutions.

For more information and program details, please visit: www.intersolar.in

About Intersolar

With events spanning four continents, Intersolar is the world’s leading exhibition series for the solar industry and its partners. It unites people and companies from around the world with the aim of increasing the share of solar power in our energy supply.

Intersolar India is the country’s most pioneering exhibition and conference for the solar industry celebrating its 10th anniversary. It takes place at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) in Bangalore on December 11-13, 2018 and the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai on April 4-5, 2019.

The event’s exhibition and conference both focus on the areas of photovoltaics, PV production technologies, energy storage systems and solar thermal technologies. With its special exhibitions ees India and Power2Drive India, the event strongly highlights electrical energy storage (ees) and electric mobility solutions. Since being founded, Intersolar has become the most important industry platform for manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, service providers and partners in the global solar industry.

In 2017, 238 international exhibitors and around 13,000 visitors attended Intersolar India. Over 100 distinguished speakers and more than 800 attendees discussed current industry topics and shed light on the conditions surrounding technological, market and political developments at the accompanying conference.

With more than 27 years of experience, Intersolar has the unique ability to bring together members of the solar industry from across the world’s most influential markets. Intersolar exhibitions and conferences are held in Munich, San Francisco, Mumbai, Bangalore, São Paulo, and Dubai. These global events are complemented by the Intersolar Summits, which take place in emerging and growing markets worldwide.

For more information on Intersolar India, please visit: www.intersolar.in

Organizers: The event’s local organizer is Messe Muenchen India Pvt. Ltd. and its international contacts are Solar Promotion International GmbH, Pforzheim and Freiburg Management and Marketing International GmbH (FMMI).

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