Energetica India Magazine December 2020

SOLAR POWER fails, the solar power system has to stop generating power to ensure the safety of the wiremen working on the failed grid- lines. Solar power systems of solar rooftop panels produce more energy in summer and comparatively less energy in win - ter. In summer, if solar power generates 100 units and the load requirement is 80 units, then 20 units can be fed back to the grid. Sunlight-based force creates just 60 units in the colder time of year season and the heap necessity is 80 units, at that point, 20 units can be tak- en from the framework. In this manner, generally abundance age from the sun based force framework is dealt with and net units devoured from the lattice gets zero. Hurdles and Cons of Implementing Net Metering One of the major hurdles in implement- ing net metering in solar rooftop instal- lation is system size as most states have an upper limit on the size of a rooftop solar project. Solar rooftop projects of larger size side-lines a large number of commercial and industrial consumers from installing rooftop solar to meet their power needs. States like Odisha do not have a maximum cap on a commercial rooftop project size. Another big challenge of the net meter- ing policy is the various business models under which developers must operate in the state. In a state such as Gujarat, con- sumers are not allowed to choose a third party owned installation. For consumers who want a rooftop system and cannot invest their capital, it makes things dif - ficult but also for rooftop independent power producers (IPP). Almost all states provide for third party owners or an OPEX based rooftop solar project in their policy. Also, the approval process is yet another major challenge for implement- ing net metering policies in many states of India. In states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, devel - opers face lengthy approval processes that can last anywhere between three to six months. Approval processes in Del - hi, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Ra- jasthan are more streamlined and take anywhere between 25 days to 30 days. Role of Net-metering Policy in India and Government’s role Net-metering is very much present and the penetration of solar energy is not relatively high. Indian net metering land - scape is greatly influenced by US policy. The electricity regulatory commission of every state in India is trying to customize their respective policy and regulations in-order to provide incentives to the consumers for net-metering to become successful. Even after the central gov - ernment’s efforts, net-metering has not been readily taken off at the state-lev - el even-though there are regulations in place in all states and UTs. The main reluctance towards the adop- tion of ‘net-metering’ is the price gap between the wholesale rate of electric- ity and the billing price of electricity in India and the difference between which is typically borne by other consumers. The government should also need to give subsidies to reduce revenue loss - es due to net-metering to fill the gap. Due to the current situations because of the Covid-19 pandemic, most of the high-paying commercial and institutional loads have been switched off. A recent report on ‘Performance of State Power Utilities 2018-19’ from Power Fi - nance Corporation Limited during the financial year 2018-19 suggest that the ACS-ARR gap has approached 72 paise per unit, AT&C losses have approached 22%, and the aggregated net worth of DISCOMs has been identified as INR 18,560 crore in the loss. The government should rather than spending money on maturing the net-metering policy, they may try to improve DISCOMs’ financial viability to deal with this tough time. To achieve the country’s 40 GW rooftop so - lar energy target by 2022 and beyond, net-metering can be an important tool with the provision of flexibility in supply to rooftop owners. In-case of net energy metering (NEM) to become financially viable, the solar industry, financial institutions, and both state and central government will have to introduce new self-reliant (Atma Nir- bhar) mechanisms, which may or, may not be an extension of net-metering, to incentivize consumers towards rooftop solar adaptation in which rooftop solar plant owners directly sell excess gener- ation to another consumer and can also achieve the ambitious target of 40 GW of installed rooftop solar capacity. 57 energetica INDIA- December_2020