I have no other words to describe the following
headline in today’s Mumbai Mirror :
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 “
{
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
===========================================================
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
====================================
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
=========================================================
Related Readings :
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
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
The
June 28 order by the Union power ministry has mandated opening of bank
guarantees by all discoms in favour of renewable firms
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
====================================================
27 Jan 2020
hcp@RecruitGuru.com