Energetica India Magazine January-February 2021

SOLAR POWER Investment - Opportunities and Challenges in Rooftop Solar Sector The government needs to push lending into the roof-top solar sector. Currently, the banks do not offer rooftop solar specific loans. These loans are only offered when the property on which the solar rooftop is proposed to be offered as collateral. 46 energetica INDIA- Jan-Feb_2021 Animesh Damani Managing Partner, Artha Energy Resources India has a total estimated potential of 748.99 GW of solar power. Despite the achievements in recent years, per-cap- ita, electricity consumption in the coun- try continues to significantly lag that of other major economies. Renewable energy sources especially solar power has emerged as a cheap source of pow- er given the declining generation costs over the years and holds the potential to be a viable source of electricity for the country. The government has an am- bitious target of 40GW of rooftop solar capacity by 2022. Currently, only 10 per- cent of this target has been achieved. Many experts claim achieving such an ambitious target is an uphill task given the pandemic has made this even more challenging with new installations reach- ing only 883 MW in the first nine months of 2020 against 1100 MW in 2019. Ca- pacity addition has been the lowest in the last six years. Currently, the renewable industry is re- lying more on the private investments to fuel the sector this year. The solar sector in 2020 was hit by a lot of roadblocks with projects either being stalled or de- layed due to lockdown restrictions, in- crease in import prices of solar panels, changes in solar policy such as down- sizing of net metering cap on rooftop solar projects has had a severe impact. Despite the challenges, the sheer pace of technological advancements in solar PV technology & energy storage will continue to provide multiple investment opportunities in the solar rooftop seg- ment. Investment Opportunities in Solar Rooftop: According to industry estimates, as much as Rs 1.5 lakh crore investment is required to build 35GW of rooftop solar capacity. A major chunk of the installa- tions will be led by the C&I sector, state & central government auctions and residential sector. Within this the opex model will be the most preferred form of financing. Energy Storage Rapid growth of rooftop solar power generation projects makes India an ide- al investment market for energy storage. Currently, the price of energy storage systems is declining. With increased adoption of technology fueled by restric- tive net metering policies there will be an increased demand for energy stor- age systems. Consumers will become increasingly independent and self-suffi - cient for their energy needs. Large con- sumers with limited rooftop solar poten- tial would continue to rely on grid power. Falling Prices of Solar Power Technological innovations such as in- creased power density & efficiency of solar PV modules will continue to reduce the cost of producing solar power. Con- sidering the rise in grid tariffs and need for cost efficiency many more C&I units will be driven to adopt rooftop solar. Blockchain With increased adoption of smart me- ters, storage systems & rooftop solar PV