Ten-fold growth in rooftop solar installation required to reach 40 GW target: MNRE
The development of SARAL is in the direction to empower state government entities as well as investors with evidence to make informed policy decisions
New Delhi: India’s cumulative rooftop solar installation needs to grow 10-fold in order to achieve the 40 gigawatt (GW) capacity target by 2022, according to a latest report by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
The report added that as of March 2019, the rooftop solar installation stood at 4.37 GW.
“To achieve the country’s ambitious target… the states must gear up, and put in place a robust implementation environment,” the report said.
Introduction of clear and detailed regulations, strong monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, and promoting innovative discom-centric business models are essential to meet the desired target.
According to the report titled ‘SARAL: State rooftop solar attractiveness index’ for financial year 2018-19, some states have progressed quite well in the direction. For example, over the last one year, Maharashtra has added more than 450 MW of rooftop solar capacity. It further added that Delhi has introduced the most detailed net-metering regulations and Karnataka has launched a comprehensive e-portal that acts as a single-window clearance for all applications.
In order to assess the performance of all states, a standardised tool that can evaluate various states for their preparedness to support rooftop solar deployment was critical.
“Various states have different rooftop solar policies, incentives, metering regulations, solar potential, availability of rooftop area, etc. This warrants the requisite for a uniform platform to account for these parameters and rank them on the basis of their rooftop solar attractiveness,” said the report.
Karnataka topped the SARAL index with a score of 78.8. Other top scorers included Telangana, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
SARAL ranks all states based on an identified set of parameters that are critical for accelerating rooftop solar deployment. It aims to highlight the best practices and acts as a knowledge sharing platform among states, helping investors in identifying states attractive for investments in rooftop solar space.
Source: energy.economictimes.indiatimes
