Government is planning to make available 55 lakh “
Affordable Houses “ to India’s poor families by 2022
It has also launched “ Saubhgya “ Yojana under which ,
it plans to provide “ Free Electric Connections “ ( not “ free electricity “ ) , to 4 crore
poor families
But , why stop at only “ Free connection “ ? Why
not “ free electric supply “ as well ?
And why even wait for those 55 lakh houses to first get
ready and then provide free connection ?
Why not design ( or mandate – if those houses are going
to be built by private builders ), those 55 lakh houses with a “ pre-installed “ Solar Panel on their roofs , to start
with ?
That would eliminate later on “ connection “ and also
guarantee FREE
ELECTRICITY from the day occupied
! Poor people deserve this !
And if Australian Government can do this , why cannot
we ?
Here is a trend-setting
example :
Some
50,000 homes in South Australia will receive solar panels and Tesla batteries,
the state government announced Sunday, in a landmark plan to turn houses into a
giant, interconnected power plant.
Under a new plan unveiled on Sunday, a network of solar panels linked to rechargeable batteries
will be provided free
to households and financed by the sale of excess electricity generated by the
network, the government said.
It
seems the Australian Government got to read my following blog ( sent as email
to our own Policy Makers on 03 Jan 2017 ) :
=================================
Why install small solar power plants
on roof tops ?
Simple :
With roof-top based solar plants , we
don't need to distribute power over long distances , using nation-wide
distribution network. We produce / store / consume power in same place
So no transmission costs / losses /
thefts !
There are no " intermediaries
" between producers and consumers ( eg: DISCOMS )
No need of elaborate " metering
/ billing / accounting "
No need for PPA ( Power Purchase
Agreements ) between producers and DISCOMs
A roof top solar installation can be
done in a matter of hours, providing employment to lakhs of Installation
Technicians, employed by thousands of MSME engaged in such work
Many more lakhs will find jobs in
companies engaged in manufacture of allied electrical / electronic /
storage batteries etc
So enormous " Job Generation "
as a by-product
These local MSME manufacturers /
installers , will aggressively compete and provide quick / efficient ,
after-sales service
Of course , roof top solar power's
Capital Cost per kwh is higher than same for large land based installations .
Over the next couple of years, this will even out
But as I mentioned in my earlier blog
:
* COST OF FUEL ( Sun ) is ZERO
* COST OF MAINTENANCE , too ,
is nearly NIL
Practically , the only cost of a roof
top based solar plant is " INTEREST ON
CAPITAL "
Now NDA government has announced a
Capital Subsidy of 30 % on
" Competitively Discovered Price " for roof top installations and
made an allocation of ( approx ) , Rs 5200 crores ( $ 750 million ), for
putting up 4200 MW
But , on the balance 70 % of Capital Cost , users will
need to borrow money from banks at 10 % - 15 % interest and go through a lengthy approval process and hypothecate
the assets
And ensure timely repayment of EMI in
order, not to get their plants " repossessed " !
But imagine following scenario :
* Government declares units belonging to " Solar Power ( Panel Mfr /
Power Production &
Distribution /
Ancillary Mfr ) " as a " SOS " industry
* Units will need to
register as such with Department of Company Affairs ( DIPP )
* Units will be exempt
from paying Corporate Income Tax for 10 years , on whatever
income they earn ( only
those starting operations latest by 31 March 2018 )
* No questions will be
asked as to the " source " of funds invested in the shares of such
units ( a kind of Temporary Amnesty Scheme - 01 April
2017 till 31 March 2018 - to
channelize BLACK MONEY
into creation of PRODUCTIVE / NON-POLUTING assets )
* Units cannot engage in
any other Industrial / Commercial / Financial activities
* Units cannot declare
any dividends to share-holders for 10 years
These are just broad outlines and
details need to be worked out
If there is political courage to pull
off such an initiative , government will NOT need to allocate ANY AMOUNT !
NO NEED TO SUBSIDIZE THESE UNITS OR THE
USERS , WITH THE TAX PAYERS' MONEY !
Instead of that $ 750 million
allocation ( from tax payers' money ) , Black Money holders will readily pump
in $ 750 BILLION into the SOLAR INDUSTRY ( enough for additional installed capacity of 750 GW - as against our current
installed capacity 8.63 GW of
solar , and a target of 100 GW , by 2022 ! )
Remember , how , only a few months
back , tiny Indonesia managed
to collect $ 300 billion of its Black Money , by
levying tax ( no penalty ) of just 4 % !
And with this kind of INCENTIVE
WINDOW ( to convert BLACK into WHITE ) , expect
* Hundreds of SOS Units to spring up before 31 March 2018
* They will have ZERO cost as
far as servicing of EQUITY is concerned ! No dividends !
* They will not need to borrow
funds from banks and pay interest ( no danger of NPA ! )
* They will say : We are not in
the business of " manufacturing of panels " but we are in
the business of
" Delivering electric power to homes / businesses "
* They will compete with each
other fiercely and ( as it is already happening in USA ) ,
start offering roof top
installations, absolutely FREE, and
selling the generated power at
20 paise/Kwh, for 10 year purchase agreement and
with a 5 % tariff reduction per year !
We can look forward to
witnessing similar competition among large , land-based , solar
power installations
which will be the main suppliers to large commercial establishments /
industrial factories /
infrastructure projects / Electric Vehicle Charging stations , etc
Just imagine
* how much, our LOW ENERGY COST ECONOMY can make us ,
INTERNATIONALLY
COMPETITIVE !
* the rise in GDP !
* the possibility of being able
to export our surplus power to neighbouring countries
* Being able to replace 6
million petrol / diesel vehicles with EVs by 2020 , due to
easily available charging stations on every street corner
* Reduction in pollution
by shutting down of hundreds of existing fossil fuel based power
plants , whose utilization will drop below 10 % by 2022 ( as against National Electricity
Plan expectation
of 48 % ,
and a un-viability threshold of 55 % )
I hope my suggestion will be
supported by Shri Piyush Goyal ( Minister for Energy ) , who referring to " innovative financing such as reverse bidding
for projects as a smart way of saving
public money " , said :
" By adopting such principles, I
have been able to reignite the power and coal sector "
( Source : Business Line / 19 Dec
2016 )
Dear Piyushbhai :
By " harnessing GREED to harness SUN
" , we could achieve 100 GW of
Solar by 2019 , instead of government target of
2022
I hope you succeed in persuading
Arunbhai , to incorporate this proposal in his forthcoming budget speech on 01
Feb 2017
Unless , Narendrabhai decides to
announce this as a Republic Day gift to the Nation !
07 Feb 2018
