An easy option to escape from hackles of rising power bills is in the offing. The Union government will provide 30% subsidy for installing home solar power generation systems.
The ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) will be soon ready with a new national scheme that will allow house or flat owners to install solar panels on rooftops.
This system will help them feed the power directly into the grid and keep bulky batteries at bay.
The new system envisages a metering system where in a household will get the power bill depending on the difference between the power consumed and generated by it.
For instance, if a solar panel generates around 400 units a month and a household consumes the same number of units, the net bill would be zero.In case, your solar panel generates more units than that you have consumed, money for the extra units will be credited to your account.
"The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) is finalising the technical standards for connectivity to enable power distribution companies to provide the service to consumers," said MNRE secretary Gireesh Pradhan.
The discoms will have to take solar generated power from consumers as the rules require them to avail of electricity from renewable sources. In addition, a ministry source said, the companies will not be able to refuse solar power from its consumers.
Around 63% of homes in Germany have grid-linked solar power systems on their home rooftops. It happened because the German government initiated the scheme with the feed in tariff for solar energy being higher than the rate for the power consumed.
After the scheme took off, the German government had gradually reduced the feed in tariff to make it comparable with electricity price.
A ministry official said India has opted for feed in tariff as the power tariff is bound to rise. A roof-top solar system runs for around 25 years.
The government has decided to provide the subsidy on capital cost since discoms' attempts to make consumers install solar systems have failed, because of their higher price.
"State government agencies will disburse the subsidy component for installing the system," an official said.
