The Delhi government on Thursday approved a draft of its ambitious Solar Policy 2022, revising the installed capacity to 6,000 MW from 2,000 MW by 2025, a three-fold jump in as many years.
Delhi’s new solar policy targets 6,000 MW of installed solar capacity by 2025 to increase the share of solar power in Delhi’s annual electricity demand from 9 percent to 25 percent in three years, the highest in India, the Deputy Chief Minister said Minister Manish Sisodia.
In its 2016 solar policy, the government targeted an installed solar power capacity of 2,000 MW by 2025.
The policy aims to create a single window portal of the state managed by Delhi Solar Cell to provide information on the benefits of solar PV systems, process related guidelines and timeline.
“To motivate consumers to go solar, the government will provide various incentives such as Generation Based Incentives (GBI) and capital subsidies. For the first time in the country, consumers will have an opportunity for community solar and peer-to-peer trading,” Sisodia said
The policy will provide capital subsidy for both residential and commercial consumers in Delhi, he said.
The draft Delhi Solar Policy 2022 will now be in the public domain for 30 days for comments from stakeholders, after which it will be submitted to the government for final approval.
“The new solar policy will further strengthen the Delhi government’s anti-pollution efforts while creating 12,000 new jobs. It will make Delhi a model for states and cities not only in India, but globally as it enables a sustainable transition to clean energy,” he added . said the Deputy CM.
The draft policy envisages monthly GBIs for residential, group housing societies and resident social associations and commercial and industrial consumers for a period of five years from the date of commissioning of solar power.
GBI will be Rs 3/kWh for residential solar systems up to 3 kW, Rs 2/kWh for residential solar systems above 3 kW and up to 10 kW, Rs 2/kWh for CGHS and RWAs with solar systems up to 500 kW (at 10 kW per house ).
An initial GBI of Rs 1/kWh will be offered for the first time for commercial and industrial consumers for the first 200 MW of solar deployment.
For domestic consumers, a capital subsidy of Rs 2,000 per kW up to a maximum of Rs 10,000 per consumer and adjusted for electricity bills will be provided on prefab structures (elevated structures having a minimum clearance of more than six feet), as per the policy .
Taxes and duties will not be imposed on production from RTS (roof top solar) panels, whether for own consumption or supplied to the grid.
To increase the use of RTS panels, the policy also supports new deployment models such as hybrid RESCO, community solar and peer-to-peer trading. The hybrid RESCO model is being introduced for the first time in India through the draft Delhi Solar Policy 2022 for all consumers, a Delhi government statement said.
This model allows consumers to access the benefits of net metering solar energy without having to invest upfront capital by entering into a contract with their energy disk.
For the first time in the country, “Community Solar” will be introduced. It will enable consumers who do not have a suitable roof to install a solar system to be part owners of a larger solar power system set up by a developer on an available plot of land in Delhi, the statement said.
Peer-to-peer trading of solar energy will also be introduced. It will allow owners of solar energy systems to sell excess electricity generated in real time through a P2P energy trading platform.
The policy also encourages discoms to increase the share of solar power sourced outside Delhi through innovative models such as RE-RTC (Renewable Energy-Round the Clock).
It combines a number of renewable energy sources (solar, wind and others) separately with appropriately sized battery storage to provide continuous power as per Delhi’s demand curve, the statement said.
