CCMS Bureau
The government has introduced the concept of community solar rooftops where people who, either do not have rooftops, have smaller rooftops or live in apartments and complexes, can come together to install solar panels at one site and share the benefits based on their shared investments. This would be possible through group net-metering or virtual metering.
The government claims, in the policy, that it is aiding domestic consumers to avoid the large upfront cost of setting up rooftop solar by offering a Renewable Energy Service Company (RESCO) Model. In this model, a solar developer bears the upfront cost for installing the system at the consumer’s premises and charges a fixed fee. The policy proposes a “hybrid” version of the RESCO model where it combines the net-metering agreements between the consumers and the discoms with the power purchase agreements between the discoms and solar developers.
In the policy, the Delhi government also claims it is enabling generation-based incentives for commercial and industrial consumers up to 500 MW of first deployment, in addition to the support offered to domestic consumers. It also introduces the facility of free assessment of rooftops by prospective consumers and the creation of a solar card report/solar score that talks about the potential of solar rooftops on that site.
