Appalled !

I have no other words to describe the following headline in today’s Mumbai Mirror :

Power may get dearer for societies with solar panels

Extract :

Ø  The state government-owned power distribution utility Mahavitaran has sought permission from regulator Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission ( MERC ), to impose a so-called GRID STABILITY CHARGE on housing societies with rooftop solar panels

Ø  Mahavitaran made this proposal in a tariff plan submitted on Jan 15

Ø  It justified the NEW CHARGE by claiming that demand for power had dropped due to SOLAR PANELS, even as it had already incurred expenses on installing DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS for the housing societies

Ø  Mahavitaran asked an additional charge of Rs 4.47 to be levied , over and above the regular tariff for the societies

Ø  There are around 1,000 societies in Maharashtra with rooftop panels

Ø  The state’s daily demand is around 19,000 MW and power generated through rooftop solar panels is not even 10 MW.
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“ Appalled “ because I could not bring myself to use a harsher word !

In my blog / email ,

 Green Buildings ? Put Greed to Work !          [ 05 June 2017 ],

I had suggested as follows :

 

I urge Maharashtra government to adopt this innovative financing model for roof top solar plants where :

     Individual building owners or Societies will install the plants on their roofs ( model / size / supplier etc to be decided by each consumer )

     Plants will need to be installed only by Channel Partners ( supplying agencies ) which are empanelled by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy , who have submitted installation data ( Project Completion Report for grid connected rooftop projects ) on the SPIN portal

     Submit “ Bill / Certificate of Grid Connectivity “ to govt  for “Green Solar Loan “

     Loan will be repayable at 5 % interest rate , over a 15 year period

     SOCIETY WILL BE ABLE TO PAY THE  EMI  FROM THE SAVINGS IT WILL MAKE  BY NOT HAVING TO BUY THE GRID POWER FROM STATE DISCOM

     Societies will even be allowed to repay the EMI in the form of the solar power it generates and FEEDS into the State Grid , under the “ Reverse Metering “ Scheme
{  
Here is how California has done it :

“ It’s Official. All New California Homes Must Incorporate Solar “

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/solar-mandate-all-new-california-homes#gs.H_OcA_0

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In a later mail , I listed following advantages of ROOF-TOP solar :

[ source :  Not Good Enough !  /  02 Dec 2017  ]

 No need to erect /maintain miles of transmission lines

 No need to install and monitor Electricity ( Smart ) Meters

No need to collect monthly payments for the power consumed

In fact , no need to PRODUCE coal-based power elsewhere , in the first place

No pollution due to power from coal-based power plants

No need to dig or import expensive coal / or worry about low plant-load factor

No need to worry about power thefts / transmission losses !

No load shedding ( so common in rural areas ) for “ non-payment of bills / low

consumption “

No need to worry about PEAK / LEAN load periods

No need to keep Subsidizing Power for ever

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Considering that the only option for :

#  saving lakhs of premature deaths due to pollution caused by fossil-fuel based plants

#  raising our GDP to 10% is through obtaining Solar Power based electricity @ Re 1 / Unit,

-      is to reject the tariff-rise request of MahaVitaran and to implement my suggestion

My request to the Chairman of MSEDCL ,

Dr Nitin Raut { Minister for Energy / dr.nitinraut09@gmail.com },

-      is to withdraw this request

And my request to the Chairperson, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission { MERC }.

Shri Anand B Kulkarni { chairperson@merc.gov.in  /  mercindia@merc.gov.in  },

-       is to convince the MahaVitaran to not only withdraw this request for tariff-rise but to come up with INNOVATIVE FINANCING schemes to push up the current number of 1,000 Housing Societies to 1,000.000 housing societies , to install ROOFTOP solar before 2024

with regards,

hemen Parekh

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Related  Readings :

     [ A ]     Maharashtra: MSEDCL ups its price to woo solar power makers

The company had floated tenders for buying 1,350 MW with a cap of Rs3.15 per unit but got bids for only 5 MW. Now it has increased the cap to Rs 3.30 per unit and floated the tender again

[ B ]   MSEDCL proposes astronomical GSC for solar rooftop 

MERC had recently dismissed the discom’s petition to make net billing compulsory instead of net metering. It had, however, allowed MSEDCL to levy grid support charge (GSC) for consumers having load more than 10 KW

[ C ]   Growth in India’s renewable energy sector has slumped to a five-year low

The June 28 order by the Union power ministry has mandated opening of bank guarantees by all discoms in favour of renewable firms

[ D ]  Clean power push: Govt adds over 50,000 MW in 5 years

The solar segment’s (which includes ground-mounted and rooftop) total capacity was 33,730 MW as of December 2019.

To achieve the 175 GW target by 2022, the sector has to set up 90 GW capacity

[ E ]  Solar imports soar, it’s now more make-in-China than make-in-India 

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27  Jan  2020

hcp@RecruitGuru.com