The Delhi Government has released a draft solar policy that targets 6,000 MW of installed solar capacity in the next three years and envisages a three-fold jump in solar energy share in annual electricity demand to 25% by 2025 from 9% currently.

The operative period of the policy will be three years.

Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia said that the new policy will address the issue of pollution and generate over 12,000 new green jobs.

Monetary incentives

The policy will create a unified single-window portal managed by the Delhi Solar Cell, which will provide information on the benefits of solar PV systems, process-related guidelines, and timelines.

Monthly generation-based incentives (GBI) will be provided for residential, group housing societies (GHS), and residential welfare associations (RWAs), along with the commercial and industrial (C&I) consumers for five years from the date of commissioning of the system, provided that it is commissioned within the operative period of the policy.

The GBI will be provided at the rate of ₹3 ($0.036)/kWh for residential solar systems up to 3 kW, ₹2 ($0.024)/kWh for residential solar systems above 3 kW, and up to 10kW.

For system capacity in the 10 kW-500 kW range, the GBI offered by the Delhi government stands at ₹2 ($0.024)/kWh for GHS and RWAs.

An early-bird GBI of ₹1 ($0.012)/kWh will be offered for the first time for C&I consumers for the first 200 MW of solar deployment.

Further, residential consumers will be provided subsidy at the rate of ₹ 2,000 ($24.16)/kW up to a maximum of ₹10,000 ($120.82) per consumer.

Additionally, taxes and duties will not be levied on generation from rooftop solar, whether for self-consumption or supplied to the grid.

More options for consumers

To increase the uptake of rooftop solar, the policy also encourages new deployment models such as Hybrid RESCO (renewable energy service company), community solar, and peer-to-peer trading.

The Hybrid RESCO model enables consumers to access the net metering benefits of solar without making any upfront capital investment by simply signing an agreement with their distribution company.

Further, the Community Solar program will allow consumers, who do not have a suitable roof for installing a solar system, to own a part of a larger system set by a developer within an available land parcel in Delhi.

Peer-to-Peer trading will promote owners of solar energy systems to sell their excess generated electricity in real-time via a P2P energy trading platform.

Sisodia pointed out that the deployment of solar plants on all state government properties with a rooftop area of 500 square meters or above is now mandatory. It will be carried out in a phased manner and be completed within the operative period of this policy.

The policy will now be put in the public domain for 30 days for comments from stakeholders, following which it will be taken to Cabinet for .

Recently, the Odisha government released its renewable energy policy, which aims to provide the necessary impetus to the solar sector and accelerate its adoption in the state.

The Uttar Pradesh Government approved the ‘Solar Energy Policy, 2022,‘ revising its proposed target upwards to 22 GW of solar capacity by FY 2026-27. The government had proposed a 16 GW solar capacity target in its draft policy earlier this year.