Tuesday, July 16, 2013: The government has been promoting solar installation for over a couple of years now and the main driving force for the adoption has been subsidies. However, the government funds seem to be drying, which is hampering further installation.
Many companies have complained that the funds they have been promised by the government are not coming through and of late the government isn’t even accepting any further applications for the same. This is bringing a drastic impact on the projects as companies aren’t willing to continue until the promised subsidies under the National Solar Mission are paid.
According to Manu Karan, the head of rooftop solar business in SunEdison, the last of the accepted application was in February. After that none of the applications have been given clearance and this involves 1.7 MW projects.
While the cost of installation is gradually coming down, it is still not sufficient without government support. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has promised a 30 per cent subsidy on all rooftop projects above 1 KWh. While the subsidy was actually meant to be a catalyst for improvement, it has now become a bottleneck. Karan added that they aren’t permitted to go ahead with the installation until the subsidies are cleared, so in spite of having orders, there is no ground to execute them.
The subsidies that have been approved haven’t yet reached the companies. The budget with the government has already exhausted. KE Raghunath of Solkar Solar Industry says that they are yet to receive the Rs 50 lakhs that had been approved for their projects last year. There is however still no clarity as to how the Tamil Nadu Government will meet the promises made.
