The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, under a recently-launched programme to encourage grid-connected small solar power generation facilities on rooftops of residential, commercial, industrial, and institutional complexes, will extend financial assistance of up to 30 per cent of the project cost on a benchmark price of Rs.100 per watt.
The initiative comes in the background of the Union Ministry’s ongoing National Solar Mission, which aims to generate 20,000 MW of grid-linked solar power by the year 2022.
Incentives
Information on the Ministry website said that an “enabling policy and regulatory environment” had been created to encourage grid-connected solar power generation.
These measures included Solar Specific Renewable Purchase Obligations under the National Tariff Policy and State-specific solar power policies.
The government is also providing fiscal and financial incentives in the form of accelerated depreciation; concessional rate or complete waiver on Customs and Excise duties; and preferential tariffs and generation-based incentives to improve the viability of solar power generation.
The Ministry has also been providing capital subsidy under the off-grid and decentralised solar schemes under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. Capital subsidy of 30 per cent is available for installation of solar water heaters in general-category States and up to 60 per cent for other States.
The Ministry also stated that the cost of solar power generation was competitive compared to that in other countries and that the cost of solar power installations had come down considerably over the last three years.
Tariff
The tariff for solar power, as fixed by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, is Rs.7.72 per KWh for photovoltaic (PV)-based facilities and Rs.11.88 per unit for solar thermal-based facilities.
Solar power generation in the country is limited, with the country having facilities for generation of only 2,647 MW at the end of May this year, the Ministry has stated. The potential for the country is estimated to be 30 to 50 MW per sq km of open area available for solar power generation.
