Domestic solar rooftops to be initiatives
Posted on: 11/Dec/2012 1:01:20 PM
Tamil Nadu government`s initiative to get residents to `solarise` their residential spaces seems to have fallen flat. A month after the state announced a solar policy which promised residents generation-based incentives for putting up rooftop solar systems, companies say enquiries from households has been negligible. Experts says that while there would be early movers who would like to adopt new technology, the incentives are not enough to make this a mass movement, experts say. We feel that incentives are not attractive enough to pull the common man to this. The incentives need to be given for a longer period to help people recover costs," said Pashupathy Gopalan, head of solar power company Sun Edison India.
State Government currently promises incentives of Rs 2 per kilowatt hour in the first two years, Re 1 in the next two and 50 paise in the following two years, bringing in about Rs 10,500 over six years. It costs roughly Rs 1.5 lakh to put up a 1 KW system which would generate about 5 units of electricity a day, enough to power lighting, fans and a fridge in a typical two-bedroom house. The current incentives, there is no clarity yet on how the funds will be disbursed. "There is not much clarity on how the net metering system (which quantifies how much power is put into the grid by the rooftop system) will work, and guidelines for this are still in the works,"
