Low demand for grid-connected rooftop solar systems in Kerala

Kerala, the most literate state in the country with a high proportion of urban, independent housing, is failing the rooftop solar test. Grid-connected rooftop solar power systems, one of the key projects identified to meet the state’s solar target, is failing to  attract many users. This, even as the state discovered fairly competitive prices for rooftop solar in its tender.

While the low adoption has been attributed to poor consumer awareness and lack of appropriate promotional campaigns, with less than 20,000 applicants for the state’s rooftop schemes, we believe the issues might run deeper. After all, you don’t miss a 2021 target of 1000 MW target for solar by a mile without serious issues with implementation.

The field-level activities of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) and the Agency for New and Renewable Energy Research and Technology (ANERT) are still not up to expectations. Speaking to installers on the ground, we get the familiar feedback of delays, be it on inspection and approvals, or subsidy payments.

Though the State’s target is to generate 500 MW using rooftop solar plants, work is moving at a snail’s pace, with just one plant being installed for each constituency in the first phase. During the 2021-22 fiscal, only two such projects were completed in Kozhikode district. Not many applicants have come forward to experiment with the scheme owing to confusion and lack of knowledge about its possibilities.

The KSEB target to cover  42,250 households under one rooftop solar scheme readied in 2020 is yet to be met. Strangely enough, the state’s   affluence and literacy might be hurting here, as many consumers feel solar is too inefficient due to the low output during the monsoons, or due to their own high power consumption, which makes the 2-3 kW plants seem too small to them.

Tata Power was last empaneled for the 84 MW rooftop solar contract in the state.

Even for ground mounted solar, the state has ended up paying a slight premium over operating rates, due to lower output and the state’s usual bugbear of higher labour costs and related issues.