On 19 July, the
Indian Ministry for New and Renewable Energy released a press statement
saying that the Government has set a target to install a 40 GW (GigaWatts) of grid-connected
rooftop solar capacity in the country, including Delhi and National Capital
Region (NCR) by the year 2022.
The power segment in India is undergoing radical
change on account of the government's move towards power generation through
renewable energy resources. Increasing electricity consumption and surging
awareness towards the environment are together helping the country towards
optimal utilisation of green energy resources, specifically solar energy. In an official
press statement released last month, the Ministry
announced a short-term offshore wind energy target of 5GW by 2022 and a
medium-term target of 30W by 2030.
According to the Delhi
Solar Policy, 2016 released by the Department of Power under the
Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD), a target has been
set for the installation of 1 GW of solar power by the year 2020 and 2 GW of
solar power by the year 2025 in Delhi. The policy stated that India needs to
focus on increasing the production of clean and renewable energy in the country
to reduce combat climate change, reduce air pollution and enhance energy
security. The GNCTD intends to rapidly develop decentralised renewable energy
sources, especially solar and reduce its current dependence on unsustainable
and centralised fossil fuel energy.
The
solar inverter market has also grown exponentially over the last few years
as a result of an increase in the implementation of solar energy projects in
the country. The
National Solar Mission, aiming to achieve 100 GW of solar energy by 2022 has
further fuelled the solar inverter adoption and is expected to increase the
market in proportion with the growing solar industry in India.
The Government has set a target to install 175 GW of
renewable energy capacity by the year 2022 has been set, which includes 100 GW
from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small
hydro-power.
The press release noted that in 2014, the Ministry of Urban Development
requested all of India’s states and union territories to issue necessary
directives to State Government Departments to use rooftop of buildings under
their control for solar power generation on a mandatory basis and also to local
bodies under their jurisdiction to incorporate the similar provision in their
building bye-laws so that installation of Roof Top Systems (RTS) on rooftops of
all types of buildings in their jurisdiction may become mandatory.
Additionally, the Ministry of Urban Development
issued a document titled Model
Building Bye-Laws, in 2016, which outlined suitable provisions for installation
of RTS on buildings. The states and union territories of Haryana, Chandigarh,
Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have already issued mandatory notifications for
the installation of RTS in different categories of buildings.
The Capacity Utilisation Factor (CUF) of solar power
projects is less than thermal, hydro, nuclear, wind and biomass power
projects. The Government has launched a number of initiatives
for the promotion and development of renewable energy including solar energy in
the country.
The press release also stated that the Government is promoting the
development of solar energy in the country by providing various fiscal and
promotional incentives such as accelerated depreciation, a waiver of Inter-State
Transmission System (ISTS) charges and losses, financing solar rooftop systems
as part of home loans, and permitting Foreign Direct Investment up to 100% under
the automatic route.