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Tribune News Service
Dushyant Singh Pundir
Chandigarh, July 24
The long wait of city residents, who had installed rooftop solar power plants but didn’t get incentive for the same, is going to end soon. The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has cleared the subsidy pending since 2019.
An official of the Chandigarh Renewable Energy, Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST), the nodal agency for the installation of solar photovoltaic (SPV) power plants on rooftops, said the ministry had cleared subsidy amount worth Rs 3.25 crore. He said the amount would be disbursed next month to 421 house owners.
Boost green energy
- To boost green energy, JERC has cleared the installation of rooftop solar power plants on residential buildings free of cost in the city
- Installation and commissioning costs to be borne by RESCO
- Power thus generated will be first supplied to the consumer
- Excess power will be fed to grid. The model will be applicable for capacities from 5 kW to 10 kW
In order to generate green energy, the ministry had enhanced the subsidy amount from 30 per cent to 40 per cent for the installation of rooftop solar plants up to 3 kWp capacity in August 2019.
A resident of Sector 33 stated that they had a rooftop solar plant installed on September 10, 2019, but were yet to receive the subsidy. Many other residents echoed similar views.
The official said the subsidy was stuck with the ministry due to some administrative reasons and the issue had been taken up with them time and again. Finally, the subsidy had been cleared and the same would be released by August, he said.
According to the policy, the subsidy amount should be transferred to the bank account of the beneficiary within a month after the house owner pays the entire cost of the solar plant. However, residents have been waiting for the release of the subsidy amount for the past nearly four years
To encourage people to opt for green energy, the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) had in January of this year given approval for the installation of rooftop solar power plants on residential buildings free of cost in the city.
CREST had sought an approval for the installation of grid-connected rooftop (GCRT) power projects for domestic consumers by a third party under the Renewable Energy Services Company (RESCO) build, operate and transfer (BOT) model.
Earlier, the UT Administration had made installation of rooftop power plant mandatory for residential houses measuring 500 sq yards and above. Under the new model, the house owner will have to provide nearly 500 sq ft of space for the installation of a 5kWp solar plant.
A third party (RESCO) will install the plant on consumer’s premises and sell power to the UT Electricity Department. The installation and commissioning costs for the system will be borne by RESCO.
The power generated will be first supplied to the consumer. The excess power will be fed to the grid. The operation and maintenance costs of the system will be borne by RESCO till the end of the BOT period. Thereafter, these costs will be borne by the consumer till the remaining life of the GCRT. After the completion of the BOT period, the solar plant will be transferred to the consumer free of cost.
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