2,000 Delhi Rooftops to have Solar Systems by Year-end : BSES

Power distribution company BSES, recently revealed in a report that it has energised 1,077 rooftop solar connections with a sanctioned solar capacity of over 40MW in the Capital. The power distribution company expects the total number of connections to cross 2,000 with a sanctioned load of 80MW, by the year-end.

According to the data made available in the report the highest number of rooftop solar net metering connections are in the domestic segment totalling 604 kW, followed by commercial establishments at 262 kW and educational institutions at 178 kW. The discom believes that it has been actively educating customers about the solar rooftop net metering policy and its beneficial impact on their electricity bills.

Rooftop solar connections allow consumers to generate electricity which is fed back to the grid. All the energy that is consumed by the household is weighted against the energy generated by it’s rooftop system in their monthly bills. They are also paid by the discom for the surplus power sold by them, as per the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC).

“The response to rooftop solar net metering has been incredibly encouraging. Consumers across categories, including residential, educational (and schools) and commercial establishments, have warmed up to the idea,” a BSES spokesperson said.

“BSES is amongst very few utilities in India, which are engaged in actively propagating the roof top solar installations through direct marketing efforts,” the spokesperson added.

As parts of its efforts, BSES launched the “Solar City Initiative” earlier this year. The “utility anchored rooftop programme” aims to maximize the utilisation of solar rooftop potential, through which solar installations will be provided at a single point for the entire apartment complex.

“Today, solar power is illuminating leading education institutions (like IIFT, Maulana Azad Medical College, Vasant Valley, DPS (EoK) and Bal Bharti Public Schools), places of worship (like Lotus Temple and Sri Aurobindo Ashram), institutions (like Mandoli Jail, Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station), organisations (like TERI, DJB, MMTC), CGHS like (Shri Balaji and Milan Vihar) and scores of individual residents,” the BSES spokesperson added.

It is interesting to see BSES,  a key Discom in Delhi profess so much support for Solar,  as one of the key refrains from industry players has been discom resistance to solarisation.   Plus, we believe most of the institutional efforts would have been pushed by solar developers or the institutions themselves. For BSES, the best reason to encourage these moves remains their renewable purchase obligations quota, which gets supported at zero cost effectively.

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