The Renewable Energy Department of Haryana has issued new guidelines for the installation of rooftop solar projects in the state. The guidelines will apply to all rooftop solar projects with capacities ranging from 1 kW to 500 kW.

Under the new guidelines, rooftop solar systems for residential, institutional, and social sectors will all be eligible for Central Financial Assistance (CFA). The state government will provide the installations with CFA equal to either 30 percent of the benchmark project cost or ₹20,000/kW (~$312/kW), whichever is less.

To be eligible for assistance, the rooftop solar systems must strictly adhere to minimum technical specifications prescribed by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), and the projects must only use MNRE-approved components.

The Haryana renewable energy department has fixed ₹70/W (~$1.09/W) as the benchmark cost for projects with capacities that range from 1-10 kW; ₹65/W (~$1.01/W) for projects of 11-50 kW; ₹60.40/W (~$0.94/W) for projects of 51-100 kW; and ₹60/W (~$0.94/W) for projects of 101-500 kW.

The new guidelines are welcome news for rooftop solar developers in Haryana. Recently, the Haryana distribution companies (DISCOMs) got a whopping ₹7.5 billion (~$116.38 million) loan from the Haryana government after the state joined the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) program.

Highlights of the New Guidelines

• Projects that are installed before any site is visited by a government official will not be considered for subsidies.
• If an applicant has to install a grid-connected rooftop solar projects without net metering, the project will be eligible for CFA. But the user must give notification in writing that the generated power won’t be injected into the grid.
• If more than one user of a grid-connected rooftop solar project is connected to a common energy meter, then a joint undertaking must be provided that allows the meter to connect to more than one project with the same energy meter. These projects will also be eligible for CFA.
• The project completion time frame is five months. If a project is not complete within five months of being awarded, the contract will be cancelled.

Recently, the MNRE also released a new proposal to overhaul the existing rooftop solar implementation mechanism by making it the responsibility of individual DISCOMs.