Energetica India Magazine December 2020

SOLAR POWER Solar Rooftop vs Net Metering Policies in India The implementation of this net metering policy in India has been rocky on the ground. Many Indian states are hes- itant to provide a robust environment for rooftop solar, they do not want to sacrifice premium customers who pay a high tariff. This makes India’s net metering policy highly inconsistent. These inconsistencies are currently the biggest challenge for rooftop installer companies and customers. 56 energetica INDIA- December_2020 Puneet Goyal Co-Founder, SunAlpha Energy In a general sense, the net metering pol- icy is an agreement that allows the solar PV system owner to sell excess solar en- ergy to the utility company or buy defi - cit energy from the company applying a meter to track this energy exchange. A grid-connected system is a system in which the solar power system is con- nected to the local main grid. Loads can be managed on solar power as long as there is sufficient energy available from the sun during the day. The defect is tak- en care of by the main utility supply. In the case of excess solar energy produc- tion, as compared to the load require- ment at that moment, the excess energy can be either stored in the batteries or can be sold back to the utility grid. This difference in energy can be tracked using a meter connected to the solar PV system. The net metering policy was ini- tially introduced in India as a measure to make distributed renewable energy more accessible and economical for electricity consumers across the coun- try. It is regulated by calculating the difference between the export of power generated by the consumer from a roof- top solar installation, and the import of power from distribution companies. The systems of Solar rooftop are con- nected to the utility grid via the custom - ers’ main service panel and meter and, when generating more power than is needed at the site, reverse the excess electricity to the grid through the power meter, reversing the meter from its usu - al direction. As the meter works in two ways one approach to quantifying pow- er bought when on location request is more prominent than on-location power creation and the other method to gauge returned capacity to the network, the cli- ent pays the “net” of the two exchanges. The implementation of this net metering policy in India has been rocky on the ground. Many Indian states are hesi- tant to provide a robust environment for rooftop solar, they do not want to sacri- fice premium customers who pay a high tariff. This makes India’s net metering policy highly inconsistent. These incon- sistencies are currently the biggest chal- lenge for rooftop installer companies and customers. Depending on the demand of various states, net metering policies can restrict the development of rooftop solar based on system size, connection type, metering type, developer model i.e. OPEX or CAPEX, and approval time and procedure. Benefits of Implementing Net Metering There are many pros and cons of imple- menting this net metering policy. Any ex- cess energy generated in the grid-con- nected solar PV system can be fed back to the local utility grid and can be tak- en back at later stages when required. So, no use to store the surplus energy in batteries for later use, thus, avoiding the heavy costs of batteries. The main - tenance costs of the system also reduce to a great extent by eliminating the bat- teries. Batteries are required only when there are frequent power fluctuations/outages. In a battery-less grid-connected system, if there is a power outage and the grid