As free electricity flows in Punjab, there aren’t many solar power adopters.
Punjab: The number of domestic consumers choosing to install solar power systems on their rooftops has decreased as a result of the Punjab government’s populist decisions to provide free power to the agriculture sector and 300 units of free power to domestic consumers, even as the rest of the world makes enormous progress toward switching to renewable energy sources.
Domestic customers unwilling to pay between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh for the installation of a rooftop solar system.
Since power to the farming industry is likewise free, there are no takers for the solar power generation to drive the agriculture pump sets. 14 lakh farm pump set users utilize electricity during the day, which is the peak load hour, and they account for around 24% of the total power generated.
Gujarat leads the world in renewable energy
The highest cumulative renewable thermal supply (RTS) is 3174.04 MW in Gujarat, according to information provided by former Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy and Power RK Singh in written responses to two separate questions in the Lok Sabha on December 21, 2023. This is followed by Maharashtra (1852.22 MW), Rajasthan (1067.25 MW), Kerala (591.17 MW), Haryana (518.49 MW), Karnataka (497.37 MW), Tamil Nadu (489.32 MW), Telangana (367.18 MW), Madhya Pradesh (316.51 MW), and Punjab (396.84 MW RTS power generation capacity), which includes 159.10 MW domestic and 237.74 MW on commercial buildings.
How do solar plants on rooftops operate?
By producing electricity at the consumer point, grid-connected rooftop solar (RTS) photovoltaic power generation facilities help to lower distribution network losses. It also helps close the gap between supply and demand.
During the day, RTS produces electricity and feeds any extra onto the grid. This system doesn’t need a battery backup because surplus solar power is fed into the grid, which also serves as a backup.
When did net metering become available?
The state government announced the Net Metering Policy in August 2014 in an effort to encourage the installation of RTS plants. Up to 80% of approved loans might be installed on rooftops by customers who took advantage of this offer.
The current service lines are used by this on-grid system to inject and pull power from the grid. Bi-directional meters that PSPCL put account for it. Renowned for its clean and environmentally friendly energy, the RTS
Customers do not receive subsidies
The subsidy is not being received by consumers, which has repercussions. Central Financial Assistance is available to residential customers that install grid-connected RTS (CFA).
According to the CFA, Punjab receives Rs 14,588 per kW for the first 3 kW of RTS capacity and Rs 7,294/kW for RTS capacity above 3 kW and up to 10 kW.
Nonetheless, Rajinder Kumar of Tagore Nagar, Jalandhar, claims that throughout the first ten months of 2019, he and practically every other customer has been waiting for the subsidy to be released.
Since July 2022, home consumers have been receiving 300 units of free power every month, or 600 units in a billing cycle. As a result, they are unwilling to invest between Rs 1.5 and Rs 2 lakh to construct an on-grid rooftop solar system (RTS).
The number of residential customers choosing the RTS increased by 14,978 between 2019 and 2022 (the year the free power program started), according to data that The Tribune has access to. At that time, the generation capacity was 107.31 MW. Just 7,508 customers chose solar electricity between March 2022 and March 2024, despite the fact that the generation capacity reached 159.10 MW.
“At this time, only customers with monthly consumption exceeding 300 units are installing RTS systems,” a senior representative of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) affirmed.
According to Parminder Singh, who owns a solar system integration business in Jalandhar, the number of consumers choosing solar electricity has decreased by over 40% within the last two years, as reported by The Tribune. “Even though RTS systems have become less expensive since 2019, small domestic power users have chosen to invest in solar power instead of splitting their meters to stay in the small consumer category and receive free power benefits,” the speaker stated.
According to representatives of the Punjab Energy Development Authority (PEDA), they have been focusing on installing RTS systems in government buildings ever since residential consumers began to show reluctance towards them, as reported by The Tribune. According to a senior executive, “the generation capacity through RTS on government buildings was 26878.9 kW until 2022, which has gone up to 33155.9 kW, an increase of 6277 kW.”
After July 2022, there will be a significant drop in the number of new RTS installations in Faridkot. In the Faridkot subdivision, there were 125 new RTS plant installations in 2019, 230 in 2020, and 303 in 2021 after the year 2019. However, in the Faridkot subdivision, the overall number of new domestic RTS installations had decreased to 74 in 2022, 20 in 2023, and 25 RTS in 2024.
Many customers in Faridkot began obtaining new power connections, increasing the number from one to two or more connections in a joint family house or building to show a separate household and receive the benefit of the 600 units scheme on every connection, after the PSPCL implemented the scheme of 600 free units to every household per billing cycle (2 months).
Following the implementation of the 600 unit free plan in just five months of 2022, the year-by-year breakdown of new household power connections in the Faridkot subdivision revealed a roughly 60% rise in new domestic connections. “They prefer to receive free electricity rather than make investments in RTS systems,” Nihalsinghwala resident Mange Ram stated.
Since the free power was offered, fewer people in Amritsar have chosen solar power as well. Up until July 2022, there were 944 RTS projects here; however, only 264 have been added since the program’s launch.
