According to the report, Indian rooftop solar market is currently not geared to implement large-scale rooftop solar projects under the OPEX model in the MSME sector without institutional or financial interventions
New Delhi: Scaling up rooftop solar in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector would require addressing key issues relating to lack of low-cost financing, lack of rooftop aggregation models and inadequate level of awareness, according to a new report by Deloitte and Climate Investment Fund (CIF).
“A well-conceived walk-through survey of 150 MSMEs depicted the willingness towards adoption of rooftop solar applications but strengthening an enabling ecosystem will be critical for its proliferation,” says Tushar Sud, partner, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India said in the report.
According to the report, Indian rooftop solar market is currently not geared to implement large-scale rooftop solar projects under the operational expenditure (OPEX) model in the MSME sector without institutional or financial interventions. The report recommended a dedicated aggregation vehicle, which could support the implementation of rooftop solar projects across the target MSME clusters.
“Limited access to finance, need to strengthen awareness, and escalating energy expenses are impacting the long-term profitability, competitiveness, and sustainability of the sector. However, it presents a great opportunity, and a multi-pronged approach involving supportive regulations, risk-bearing financing, and awareness building is needed to demonstrate viability and help scale up rooftop solar in the sector,” said Abhishek Bhaskar, energy specialist at CIF.
The report noted that regulatory changes for the adoption of group and virtual net metering could assist in implementing aggregation models in the MSME clusters and overcoming issues related to scale, diverse customer profile, and financing.
“The World Bank has long supported India’s renewable energy ambitions, including rooftop solar, which is an integral part of our clean energy strategy. Supported by the CTF, the programme has delivered financing to close to 300 megawatt (MW) so far working in close partnership with State Bank of India (SBI), and is all poised to surpass its initial goals. This CTF supported work is quite timely since a significant amount of this financing goes to installations for MSMEs, a sector that we have also identified as one of the potential areas for future growth” said Simon Stolp, lead energy specialist at the World Bank.
According to the report, a dedicated scheme supported by the Ministry of MSME with financial interventions such as interest subvention and Partial Risk Guarantee Fund mechanism through budgetary allocations may be required for pilot projects across target clusters.
Source: energy.economictimes.indiatimes
