- Will create a unified single-window state portal maintained by the Delhi Solar Cell to provide information, timeline and process-related guidelines
- Incentivizes power discoms to increase the share of solar energy procured from outside Delhi
The Delhi government recently approved its draft Solar Policy 2022, with the aim to increase the share of the city’s annual electricity demand met by solar energy from 9% at present to 25% by 2025. It has been put in the public domain for 30 days for comments. After this time, it will be tabled before the Delhi Cabinet for final approval.
The new policy revised the installed capacity proposed by the 2016 policy from 2,000 MW to 6,000 MW by 2025 to increase the share of solar energy in Delhi’s electricity demand in 3 years.
Notably, the policy has been prepared by the Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi (DDC) after stakeholder consultations with the industry, consumers, government entities, financing institutions, and clean energy think tanks. According to the government, along with increasing solar energy consumption, the policy also aims to generate over 12,000 green jobs.
Interestingly, monthly Generation Based Incentives (GBI) will be provided for residential, group housing societies, and residential welfare associations. For commercial and industrial consumers, the GBI will be provided for 5 years from the date when the solar power is commissioned.
As per various reports, the policy puts in place the community solar model for the first time in India. The government believes that community solar will enable consumers who do not have a suitable roof for installing the RTS panel to be owners of a part of a larger solar energy system set by a developer within an available land parcel in Delhi. Moreover, the peer-to-peer trading model will enable the owners of solar energy systems to sell surplus electricity in real time via a P2P energy trading platform.
It must also be noted that capital subsidies will be provided for residential consumers for mounting raised structures having a minimum ground clearance higher than 6 feet. Moreover, taxes and duties will not be levied for the generation of energy from the rooftop solar (RTS) panels whether for self-consumption or supplied to the grid.
Deputy CM and Power Minister Manish Sisodia stated that the policy provides a host of benefits through GBI and capital subsidies for residential and commercial consumers to adopt solar energy, besides introducing innovative models of solar deployment. “For the first time in the country, consumers will have an opportunity for community solar and peer-to-peer (P2P) trading,” he added.
