Context :
Odisha
Electricity Regulatory Commission allows virtual net metering for renewable
power consumers
(
Indian Express - 12 May 2022 )
Extract :
With increased
demand for group net metering and virtual net metering for use of renewable
energy, the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) has amended its regulations to allow generation of more than 500 KW power from renewable sources.
The amended
provisions will not only,
# allow individuals or groups to generate energy from renewable sources -
solar energy
emerging as
# but also enable the power producers to export or transfer the surplus to
the grid
and earn credit.
The process of transferring
such energy is known as net
metering.
Amending its 2016
order, the OERC said the new order will be known as,
# net metering
# bi-directional metering
# gross metering
# group net metering
# virtual net metering
-
and their
connectivity with respect to solar photovoltaic projects.
Gross metering is a mechanism
where,
# the total energy generated from grid interactive solar photovoltaic system of
a prosumer and
# the total energy consumed by the generator
- are accounted separately through appropriate
metering arrangements.
The total energy consumed by the prosumer is accounted at the applicable
retail tariff and total solar power generated is accounted for at a tariff
determined by the
Commission.
The prosumer is,
# a consumer of electricity in the area of supply of the distribution licensee,
# who uses a self-owned or third party-owned solar power system installed
on his/her premises,
# to offset part or all of the electricity requirements and also inject electricity
into the grid.
Under group net metering,
# surplus energy generated from a renewable energy system and exported to
the grid are regulated in multiple electricity service connections of the same
user located within the same area of supply.
On the other hand,
virtual net metering (VNM) is an
arrangement in which,
# the total energy generated from a renewable energy system is exported to
the grid from the renewable
in multiple electricity service connections of engaging customers located in
the same distribution area of supply.
Ø Why
Gross Metering is problem for Sellers ?
… ( Business Line / 09 Jan
2022 )
Extract :
India’s
rooftop solar capacity is about 6,000 MW,
considerably lower than the target of 40,000 MW that
the government seeks to achieve by March
2022. To mainly give a fillip to rooftop installations, last
month it notified the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020.
The Rules recognise ‘prosumers’
— a class of consumers who also generate
and sell electricity to the grid.
One of
the key measures in the Rules is that consumers may put up a solar plant on
their premises, rooftop or otherwise, and directly sell the electricity
generated to the utility (electricity distribution company or discom). Because
few would want to put up a solar plant on their lawns or compounds, these rules
largely aim at promoting rooftop solar capacity.
In a system called ‘gross
metering’, what prosumers buy from the grid and
what is put into the grid are two separate streams.
The
minimum capacity of the solar plant for gross metering should be 10 kW, and the upper limit for the
capacity would be fixed by what the respective state electricity regulator
would permit.
The
regulator would also fix the tariff for the sale of electricity from the
prosumer.
Experts,
however, point out that this ‘gross metering’, though well-intended, has one
major problem. If you have a rooftop solar plant and wish to sell power to the
discom, you have to build the infrastructure needed to evacuate the
power. You need to put separate cables all the way from the solar inverter to the gross
meter, which has to be installed separately.
“The cost of this additional infrastructure will in most cases
be much higher than the cost of the solar PV systems themselves,” says Toine
van Megen, Co-Founder, Auroville Consulting, which advises utilities on solar
energy. This will be particularly problematic in multi-storey buildings, where
the cabling would be longer than that in individual units.
Discoms
have never liked rooftop solar plants principally because of two
reasons :
One, the plants reduce the
demand for power from (typically) well-paying consumers.
Two, the (surplus)
electricity supplied to the utility by the rooftop plants is valued at the same
price as the consumer pays — even though solar plants produce power at a much
cheaper rate.
As such, the discoms have
always tried to spook consumer plans to go rooftop, which is
the singular reason why rooftop solar hasn’t taken off,
despite the government heavily subsidising the installations.
The
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy pays 40 per cent of the cost of the plant
that is up to 3 kW and 20 per cent for capacities between 3 kW and 10 kW.
But
discoms have been imposing their own conditions or holding back approvals to
protect their clientèle.
And now comes gross
metering.
Apparently,
the authors of the Rules thought gross metering was simpler and perhaps better
paying. But in practice it may not be so simple. After all, nobody
puts up a rooftop solar plant aiming to sell power — the idea is for
self-consumption; only the surplus is sold. Gross metering tends to look at it as
a separate business.
Megen says the solution is ‘net
feed-in metering’, where in a bidirectional meter electricity
flows both ways. Unlike in net metering, there is no net-off, but payment is made separately for what the
prosumer sells. This way, you avoid building the evacuation infrastructure.
Experts believe policies should favour prosumers rather than
discoms.
Discoms, beware, for battery costs are falling rapidly. With
technologies such as solid electrolytes and metal cathodes, energy densities
are bound to go up, bringing down storage costs.
Rooftop
owners could just buy storage for parking any surplus energy and island
themselves — goodbye to discoms.
For the discoms, there could be no surer way to disaster.
MY TAKE :
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ A ] Congratulations
, Shri R K Singhji ………………………[ 19 Nov 2020 ]
Extract :
Ø This set-up will require NATIONAL SOLAR EXCHANGE in which ALL discoms
will be mandated to become
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ B ] Market-based
Model for Renewable Energy ………………[ 09 June 2021 ]
Extract
:
“ Contract Farming “
}
Incorporate this into just
released FARM LAWS to encourage setting- up of :
“ Solar Power
Farmers’ AMUL
# Solar Farm company can “ Sell “ ownership rights of solar panels
to individuals in modules
These rights can be sold / transferred to any buyer, only with prior
permission of the Solar Farm
# My nearest DISCOM will supply me those 10 KW, free of cost ( ie: deduct
from my monthly usage )
Any excess
over my actual consumption, to be credited to my account
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ C ] Not Good Enough !
…………………………………[ 02 Dec 2017 ]
Ø Anyone can generate and SELL electricity, anytime and
to anyone and
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ D ] Congratulations
, Shri Saurabh Patelji ……[ 31 Dec 2020 ]
Extract :
Para #
4 :
Ø Consumers other than Residentials can set up Solar Projects on their
Roof / Premises or
can
for generation & consumption of power within or OUTSIDE the
premises
Para #
6 :
Ø A
group of consumers can set up solar projects for self-consumption as
a COLLECTIVE
energy IN THE RATIO of
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ E ] No Godfather for
Rooftop Solar ? ……………………[ 01 June 2021 ]
Extract :
Dear Shri R K Singhji (
Minister for Power ) :
in the Well “
Ø It is time to remember that
the nomenclature : Roof Top Solar “, somehow
ties us
down to the words
locations
Ø Solar
Energy can also be harvested at other locations on Earth, such as
FARMS , DESERTS, LAKES,
etc., or even through solar panels farms
in SPACE ( low earth orbits ? ),
beaming electricity down to Earth-based
receivers ( using micro-waves ? )
Ø We
must break loose from the narrowly defined, Roof-Top Solar / Land-
based
Solar and latch on to the
SOLAR ENERGY TRADING INFRASTRUCTURE ( SETI )
Dear Shri Amitbhai Shah ,
You are the Minister for Cooperatives
Against our target of 40 GW of Rooftop Solar by March 2022, as of today ( mid
May 2022 ), we have managed to
achieve, a meagre 6 GW !
To fulfil the commitment made by our PM , Shri Modiji at COP26, there is only ONE
WAY – Sardar Patel Way !
Please , implement my suggestion to turn this entire system ( of generation–
distribution–sale of Solar Power ) into a :
CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT
I urge you to REPLICATE the MIRACLE called AMUL
With regards,
Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 17 May 2022
Related Readings :
MY
163 BLOG'S ON SOLAR POWER …………………………………………… [ as of 10 Mar 2022 ]
Congratulations,
Shri R K Singhji …………………………………………………..[ 11 Mar 2022 ]
A
Battery Swapping Policy for Battery-Powered Solar Cookers ?... [ 25 Mar
2022 ]
Mission
Possible ( Failure is not an Option )…………………………………….[ 31 Mar 2022 ]
Grid
Storage Battery : 4 Years – and counting ! …………………………….[ 17 Apr 2022 ]
Not “ MAY
“ but “ MUST “ …………………………………………………………………[ 24 Apr 2022 ]
Getting
Closer : Battery-powered Electric Cooker…………………………. [ 11 May 2022 ]
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