Indian solar module manufacturer and Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) services provider, Waaree Energies, has come up with a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) rooftop solar kit for India.

The launch of the rooftop solar kit is aimed at reducing the time and manpower involved in rooftop installations.

Through these solar kits, housing societies and colonies as well as semi-urban and rural areas can generate power in the range of 1 kW to 5 kW.

According to a media statement issued by the company, the solar kit called ‘Pronto’ will need just two people and approximately 15 to 30 minutes for installation.

The price of the solar kits is in the range of ₹0.06 million (~$920.7) to ₹0.3 million (~$4,603), depending upon the kW needed, distribution box and cabling length.

In order to generate a kW, a space of 2×3 meters will be utilized. The product has been designed in such a manner that it can be installed only on buildings having flat surfaces or terraces.

“The biggest problem in having rooftop solar is installation, wherein the ones who install the solar photovoltaic (PV) panels have to ensure that there isn’t any damage to the civil structure as it would result in leakages during monsoon. Our product helps in not puncturing the civil work,” Sunil Rathi, the director of Waaree Energies said in a press release.

According to Waaree, the solar panels provided have a shelf life of 25 years, while the inverter has a life of above 10 years, thereby making it financially feasible for those making this capital expenditure.

In the upcoming fiscal, Waaree Energies expects to install anywhere around 15,000 of such kits, especially at taluka and district levels.

The growth trajectory of rooftop solar in the country hasn’t been very impressive over the years, though it has gained traction in the past few years. A bottom-up analysis performed by Mercom in its 2017 Q4 Solar Market Update found that India’s rooftop installations grew by 56 percent year-over-year to reach a cumulative total of nearly 1.6 GW on December 31, 2017.

Recently, a report by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) proposed using municipal bonds to facilitate the achievement of this goal and details how such bonds could be designed and implemented to support the scaling up of rooftop solar across the country.

In December 2017, Mercom reported that the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) released a proposal to overhaul the existing rooftop solar implementation mechanism by turning over responsibility for it to distribution companies (DISCOMs). Under the proposal, DISCOMs would be eligible to receive financial assistance to the tune of ₹234.5 billion (~$3.66 billion) based on their performance facilitating rooftop solar deployment across the country.

Image credit: Waaree Energies

Ankita is an editor at MercomIndia.com where she writes and edits clean energy news stories and features. With years of experience in the news business, Ankita has a nose for news and an eye for detail. Prior to Mercom, Ankita was associated with The Times of India as a copy editor for the organization’s digital news desk. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Delhi University and a Postgraduate Diploma in journalism. More articles from Ankita Rajeshwari.