Delhi Solar Policy Interlinks DISCOMs, Consumers, Reduces Upfront Cost

Delhi Solar Policy Interlinks DISCOMs, Consumers, Dev. Reduces Upfront Cost

Department of Power under the Delhi government recently released the Delhi Solar Policy. Under this new policy, the government introduced a hybrid RESCO model. This model establishes a tripartite link among DISCOMs, consumers, and RESCO developers through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). The revised model can facilitate solar panel installation on consumer rooftops without upfront costs, promising cleaner energy and financial savings.

The policy also supports consumers without rooftop solar provision under RESCO mode. Under this provision, consumers can enter into a PPA with solar developers for a fixed period, i.e., for 25 years. Interested consumers can reach out to developers through the state solar portal and enter into a direct solar agreement. The solar rooftop system is to be installed on a 500 sq. km or above area.

Hybrid RESCO Model

Delhi government introduced a hybrid RESCO model to address the limitations of the conventional RESCO model. It also aimed to facilitate the large-scale adoption of solar systems by consumers facing capital constraints. This model aims to combine the net-metering agreement between the consumer and the DISCOM through a tripartite agreement between the RESCO developers, DISCOM, and the consumer. This can benefit consumers by allowing them to adopt rooftop solar (RTS) without any upfront cost. They can receive net metering benefits under one bill from DISCOM while also sliding to the lower tariff bar.

This model also claims to support developers as they can sign the Tripartite Agreement with DOSCOM with an assured take-off and payment security. Under the agreement, the developers can directly get paid. Whereas DISCOM can bill the consumers for solar power consumed at the PPA rate under the single unified bill for energy consumed. The PPA rate for the single unified bill for the energy consumed. Whereas the PPA tariff for the hybrid RESCO is to be discovered through a competitive bidding process and to streamline the process. Under the revised policy GNCTD will create a new portal for consumers to get end-to-end information on installing solar panels, benefits of RTS, guidelines, regulations, operations, etc. Consumers can track the status of net metering operations through the portal. 

The regulation mandates the implementation of solar power plants on existing government buildings, with a rooftop of 500 sq.m The regulation also covered agricultural land, operation guidelines, exemption on tax and duties, employment generation, reusing and recycling of solar components, etc.

The policy aims are applicable to any solar energy generating system having 1 KW/p capacity. The policy applies to all electricity consumers and to those who have set up solar power plants in Delhi. The policy came into effect on 14th March 2024 and continue for the next three years.

It has laid down the following targets:

1. The policy has set the target to achieve 4500 installed capacity which includes 750 MW of rooftop solar within the state and 3750 of utility-scale solar from outside the state.
2. It introduced group net metering and peer-to-peer transactions with support from DISCOM.
3. Implement a community solar program for consumers who don’t have suitable rooftops for installing solar.
4. Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission DERC and GNTDC plan to implement community solar
5. They plan to set up a digital platform that would bring together rooftop owners with those without access to that provision. It would allow consumers without a rooftop to purchase ownership in the rooftop solar (RTS) plants and receive net metering benefits based on their ownership share. It would also facilitate peer-to-peer energy trading. It would allow consumers who have installed solar rooftops, to sell excess electricity from their rooftops in real-time via P2P energy trading.