Jaipur: Rajasthan electricity regulator’s decision on not allowing rooftop solar power producers to carry forward unconsumed power till a year and limiting it to one month or billing period has clouded the prospects of the sector with new projects slowing down substantially.
Prior to the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (RERC) order on March 5, 2019, rooftop solar power projects could adjust the electricity generated within a year which helped education institutes and companies.
But the new norm has caught the universities or colleges, which remain closed during summer vacations or the factories that are shut down for maintenance off guard, as their underutilized power generated during the period will automatically lapse. Even though the regulator has kept the domestic projects out of the stringent mechanism, their share in the rooftop segment is just a fraction.
In the amendment to the connectivity and net metering for rooftop and small solar grid interactive systems, RERC said, “It would be appropriate that the surplus electricity, if any, at the end of billing period should lapse and no payment be made for the same being inadvertent power to the discoms. However, for domestic category such electricity shall be paid.”
Describing the amendment a retrograde step, Sunil Bansal, general secretary of Rajasthan Solar Association, said, “Rajasthan has been given a target 2,304 megawatt of rooftop solar power. So far, the installation capacity is close to only 300 MW. The change in net metering regulations by RERC will make it more difficult to reach anywhere closer to the target.” Bansal said the RSA wants RERC to roll back the strangulating policy measure.
Similarly, in the same order RERC also capped generation capacity to 4.8 units for a one megawatt project.
For example, one megawatt solar installation can normally produce only 4.8 units at a capacity utilisation factor of (CUF) of 20%.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes
