RK Singh Asks Discoms to Submit Monthly Report on Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Program

The Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister RK Singh directed power distribution companies (Discoms) and State Nodal Agencies (SNAs) to submit the monthly status of implementation of grid-connected rooftop solar program.

The move came in the backdrop as the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is implementing phase-II of grid-connected rooftop solar programme through Discoms since August 2019.

However, in some of the states and Union Territories (UTs), state nodal agencies are supporting Discoms in the implementation of this programme. Till date, 805.95 MW of capacity has been sanctioned to 63 Discoms.

Now, the Ministry has requested that “the status of implementation of programme may be provided in the enclosed format to the Ministry on or before 5^th of the next month reflecting the implementation status on last day of the previous month.”

It further added that “the monthly status report should be sent with the approval of CMD/ MD/ Chief Engineer in charge of Solar/ RE work in Discom or the Director In-charge in case of SNA at the email Ids i.e. “Hiren Borah at [email protected]”, and “Aditya Narayan at [email protected]”

To see the form format click here.

As of March 31, 2020, India’s aggregate installed capacity of grid-interactive rooftop solar stood at 2,515.31 MW. However, the country has an aggressive target to achieve 40 GW from rooftop solar by 2022.

Notably, Gujarat state remained on the top in the list with 521.93 MW of capacity installed, as on March 31, 2020, for rooftop solar. While Rajasthan and Karnataka states grabbed the second and third positions with 255.22 MW and 232.77 MW of installed capacities respectively for rooftop solar space.

In order to ramp up the installation of solar energy and to achieve India’s 40 GW target from Rooftop Solar (RTS) projects by 2022, the government launched ‘Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Programme Phase-II’.

The government has been implementing this program with a total central financial support of Rs 11,814 crore.

The scheme has 2 Components i.e. Component A and Component B.

i). Component A is for the setting up of 4 GW grid-connected rooftop solar plants in the residential sector with Central Financial Assistance (CFA).

Under the programme, the Central Financial Assistance (CFA) for the residential sector has been restructured with the availability of 40 per cent CFA for RTS systems up to 3 kW capacity and 20 per cent for beyond 3 kW and up to 10 kW.

For Group Housing Societies/Residential Welfare Associations (GHS/RAW), CFA will be limited to 20 per cent for RTS plants for supplying power to common facilities. However, the capacity eligible for CFA for GHS/RAW will be limited to 10 kW per house with maximum total capacity up to 500 kWp, inclusive of RTS put in individual houses in GHS/RWA.

ii). Component B is for Incentives to Discoms (power distribution companies) based on the achievement of installing additional grid-connected rooftop capacity in all sectors over and above the base level, with the incentives being limited to the first additional 18 GW of rooftop capacity added in India. However, the achievements above this level will not be eligible for any incentive.

Through this programme, the government wants to increase the involvement of Discoms. So, performance-based incentives will be provided to Discoms based on their RTS capacity achieved in a financial year (FY), starting from 1st April to 31st March every year till the duration of the scheme, over and above the base capacity i.e. cumulative capacity achieved at the end of previous FY.