Delhi Govt Announces ‘Free Electricity’ For Solar Rooftop Users

Delhi Govt Announces 'Free Electricity' For Solar Rooftop Users

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal promised a ‘zero electricity bill’ for energy users who opt for rooftop solar today. The CM said the government had made a special provision in the upcoming Solar Policy to give solar prosumers free electricity in Delhi. 

The state cabinet recently approved the state solar policy. The government will soon notify it. In a press conference today, Kejriwal said that power consumers who install solar rooftops will receive zero electricity bills, regardless of their power consumption. 

“Under the latest Delhi Solar Policy, residential solar consumers would get zero electricity bill, regardless of consumption. Also, those installing solar rooftops on their roofs would get around Rs 700-900 per month from the government. Central government data recently revealed that the Inflation Rate is around 6-7%. Delhi has the lowest inflation, at 3 percent. The new policy will further bring down inflation in Delhi,” Kejriwal said.

He also said the government had provided a Generation-Based Incentive (GBI) to incentivize rooftop solar users under the new policy. “We have decided to give GBI for up to five years. There will not be any minimum generation to qualify for this. Those households generating up to 3KW of solar power monthly will get monthly incentives at Rs 3 per/KW. On the other hand, those between 3KW and 10KW would get incentives at the rate of Rs 2 per unit,” Kejriwal said.

He also said that under the new Delhi Solar Policy, Commercial & Industrial (C&I) consumers would get GBI at the rate of Re 1 per unit. Kejriwal also said the state government would offer an additional subsidy of Rs 2,000 per unit with a ceiling of Rs 10,000 for new rooftop solar connections. This will be in addition to the subsidies given by the MNRE for the segment.

The Delhi government plans to add 4,500 MW of new solar power capacity by 2027. “By 2027, we will have 4,500 MW of installed capacity from solar energy. This will comprise 750 MW of solar energy from rooftop solar and 3,750 MW from solar power purchased from discoms through purchase from other states.”

“Earlier, we issued our Solar Policy 2016. From then on, the Solar Policy was the most progressive nationally. This paved the foundation for solar power in Delhi. Under the 2016 policy, several people installed rooftop solar panels. This led to the total addition of 250 MW of installed capacity. In addition, 1,250 MW of solar power was brought by the discoms of Delhi from outside under the Policy. So around 1500 MW of solar power were installed under the Policy,” the CM said.