Context :

Interview of PM Shri Modi ( Gujarat samachar – 02 May 24 – My translation ) :

Shri Modi said :

“ There is one more thing I have to do. I want to make your Electricity bill Zero. Even your petrol bill , zero.

You may wonder how. But I am not talking in air. We have a scheme.

We have launched SuryaGhar Yojana. Under this scheme, Government provides Rs 50 - 60 - 70 thousand. You install a Solar Panel on your roof and generate electricity.

Use as much as you need and sell the surplus to the government. Earn by selling the surplus to the government.

Today you are paying your Electricity bill. Modi will usher days when you will generate an income from the power that you generate.

Now the Electric Vehicle era is coming. Currently if you have a scooter or car, you have to fill up with petrol worth Rs 100 – 200.

But if you generate electricity at your home, you can charge your vehicle at night. Even if you start using your vehicle right from morning, you won’t have to spend even one rupee for petrol “

( To hear this interview, click > https://youtu.be/-SIHWVjheJk )

Brief Background :

22^nd Jan 2024 :

PM Shri Modi announce Suryodaya Yojana under which 300 units / month of electricity will be made available to 10 Million “ Poor / Middle Class “ households

01 Feb :

This was also mentioned in the budget speech of Finance Minister ( Budget allocation of Rs 10,000 crore )

2^nd Feb :

MNRE minister Shri R K Singh announced :

“The government will bear the entire cost of installing solar rooftop systems as part of the Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana, which will offer up to 300 kilowatts of power monthly to one crore low income households.

A low income household is being identified as one whose monthly electricity consumption is below or up to 300 kilowatts or unit. Centre will bear the entire cost of installing rooftop solar (RTS) systems.

13 Feb :

PM launches “ PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana. PM Modi posted on X, formerly Twitter :

“ In order to further sustainable development and people’s wellbeing, we are launching the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana. This project, with an investment of over Rs. 75,000 crores, aims to light up 1 crore households by providing up to 300 units of free electricity every month.

In order to popularise this scheme at the grassroots, Urban Local Bodies and Panchayats shall be incentivised to promote rooftop solar systems in their jurisdictions. At the same time, the scheme will lead to more income, lesser power bills and employment generation for people.

Current Status after 3 months of launch :

PM Surya Ghar : Muft Bijlee Yojana : National Portal

Ø Counter : Total Visitors: 2757937

Ø No info as to : Applied / Feasibility Study completed / Approved / Installed / ( Number and Kw )

Ø No info as to : Subsidy amount disbursed

Hurdles :

Ø Very long / involved process , having following steps ( at each step, a form to be filled in ) :

# Registration > Application Submission > Feasibility Approval ( by DISCOM ) > Vendor Selection >

Work Start > Solar Installation details > Inspection > Project Commissioning > Subsidy Request >

Subsidy Disbursal

Any other hurdle ?

Ø A huge one . This scheme will never catch-up in cities where most buildings are multi-storied ( 10 / 20 floors ) , and house 20 / 50 families

Ø Each flat owner / tenant, has ( on average ), 10 Kw connected load. Hence entire building would demand, 200 Kw / 500 Kw of solar panels

Ø 1 Kw Solar panel requires 100 sq ft , - so a typical city building would need 20,000 – 50,000 sq ft of roof area ! As against this , such buildings are likely to have barely 10 % of roof area needed

Ø This roof area constraint makes this scheme a NON STARTER for the cities

Given these hurdles, what kind of achievement can be expected ? :

Ø Thanks to this elaborate and involved procedure, as against the target of 30 GW / 10 Million families , in next 3 years ( till March 2027 ) , with luck we may achieve 3 GW / 1 million families [ barely 10 % of target ].

Is there any evidence to support this pessimistic outlook ?

Yes . Take a look at :

Solar City Ayodhya: PM Surya Ghar Bijli Yojana promoted as ‘free electricity scheme’ during polls, leaves many confused……………….. 03 May 2024

Is there any way to overcome these hurdles and achieve the target ? If so , what ?

Ø Simple. For my need of 10 Kw, if I do not have 1,000 sq ft of roof area in my building in Mumbai , then SuryaGhar Yojana should allow me to “ buy and own “ 1,000 sq ft of solar panels anywhere in India – say in Kolhapur in some sort of “ Cooperative Solar Farm “

Ø My Kolhapur panel will deliver everyday 50 Kwh ( 10Kw x 5 hours / day of sunshine ) of electricity to the DISCOM operating in Kolhapur ( MSEDC ) . A total of 1500 units per month

Ø In Mumbai , my local DISCOM , ADANI ELECTRIC will deliver to me 50 Kwh daily – FREE ( with only small wheeling charge )

Ø In short, allow city-dwellers to enjoy the subsidy benefit offered by SuryaGhar Yojana , by setting up Solar Panels , anywhere in India

I suggested this proposal to Cabinet Ministers through my following e-mail :

Ø A Tale of Two States ………………. 28 Oct 2020

If you are in a hurry and have no time to read my e-mail , then following schematic diagram will make it very easy to grasp the concept of a Co-operative Solar farm

I urge the incoming government to include this proposal in its 100 DAYS ROAD-MAP (trailer to movie ?) and enable 10,000 Co-operative Solar Farms to get launched in next 24 months

Would you like to suggest any specifics ?

Yes

Ø Open up SuryaGhar Yojana for all of India’s 290 Million households ( families ) – having any amount of monthly consumption ( dispense with 300 units / month limit ). Also to all Industrial / Commercial organizations ( in a nutshell , for every entity which has a Consumer Account with ANY Discom )

Ø But, do restrict the max subsidy amount at Rs 78,000 – even for those drawing more than 300 units / month ( to limit the burden on the budget )

Ø Also offer subsidies to consumers who choose to invest in Co-op Solar Farms ( like SundayGrids.com ) , shown in diagram below

Ø Disburse the subsidy amount ( to a member / subscriber of a Co-op Solar Farm ) within 48 HOURS of completion of PROCESS FLOW shown in chart above

Ø Mandate that ALL DISCOMS must become members of SETI and integrate their BILLING SYSTEMS with SETI network exchange. Co-owners of a Co-operative Solar Farm will automatically become members of SETI as soon as they register and pay up. Instantly , SETI will create for such a member , a DEMAT GREEN CREDIT account , which will keep history of all BUY / SELL transactions and the PRICE at which the transactions take place

Ø To encourage DISCOMS, compensate them for ANNUAL loss of revenue if any ( 2024 as base year )

Ø To encourage consumers, give them Induction Solar Stoves ( costing around Rs 4,000 inclusive of an inverter ) at subsidized rates ( under National Clean Cooking Mission ).

Families opting for Solar Stoves must be entitled to earn GREEN CREDITS ( at present, this scheme

does NOT cover families saving GHG through use of Solar Stoves ).

It should be possible to recover the cost of Induction Solar Stove within one year through saving in

LPG cylinder subsidy ( approx. Rs 300 per LPG cylinder ). Besides this , govt would save foreign

exchange spent on import of LPG ( approx. Rs 75,000 crore per year )

Ø Instead of depending entirely on private sector “ Co-operative Solar Farms “ , I urge Shri Amit Shah ( Minister for Co-operatives ), to come up with PUBLIC SECTOR farms , as outlined in following chart . These too shall operate like www.SundayGrids.com

For CONCEPTUAL FRAME –WORK for earning GREEN CREDITS / DEBITS look up :

( A ) Individual households ( families ) :

Ø Carbon Finance through Carbon Credits … ………………12 March 2021

( B ) Vehicle Owners / Transport Undertakings

Ø Transport : an Integrated Logistic Plan ? ……………….. 20 Nov 2018

With regards,

Hemen Parekh

www.HemenParekh.ai / 07 May 2024

CC:

Mathew Samuel ( naseer.s819@gmail.com ) / CEO – SundayGrids

Congratulations , Mathew Samuel …………………. 09 Nov 2023

Related Readings :

India releases draft guidelines for residential rooftop solar subsidies.. 17 Apr 2024

Extract :

The scheme will be implemented until March 31, 2027.

The beneficiaries will apply on the National Portal and will get a unique application ID.

The benchmark cost for a 1 kW system is fixed at ;

# INR 50,000/kW ……….for the first 2 kW of RTS capacity and

# INR 45,000 ………………for the additional kW with effect from Feb. 13, 2024.

The state and union-territory governments may supplement the CFA provided by the central government for the residential sector with an additional subsidy for RTS

Green milestone: Share of coal in India’s total installed electricity capacity drops below 50%/HT/ 03 May 2024

Extract :

The report also found that renewable energy auctions reached a record 41 GW in fiscal year 2024, with eight auctions including energy storage components. India met 95% of its targeted 50 GW annual renewable bidding trajectory, with innovative formats like wind-solar hybrids and RE-plus-storage accounting for 37% of auctioned capacity.

India formally updated its climate change commitments in August 2022, pledging to the United Nations to reduce its GDP emissions intensity by 45% from 2005 levels by 2030 and to have 50% of its power capacity from non-fossil sources by the same year.

Cabinet Approves Suryaghar Muft Bijlee Yojana .. 29 Feb 2024 … https://www.narendramodi.in

Extract :

Ø The scheme provides a CFA of 60% of system cost for 2 kW systems and 40% of additional system

cost for systems between 2 to 3 kW capacity.

Ø The CFA will be capped at 3 kW. At current benchmark prices, this will mean:

# Rs 30,000 subsidy for 1 kW system,

# Rs 60,000 for 2 kW systems and

# Rs 78,000 for 3 kW systems or higher.

==================================================================

India’s transition to solar: Initiatives for powering homes, businesses with clean & green energy / 06 May 2024

Extract :

Interview with Shri Deepak Gupta, IAS retd, currently serving as the Director General (Hon.) of National Solar Energy Federation of India [ admin@nsefi.in, admin@nsefi.in ]

Ø We should be happy doing 20-30 GW annually till 2030, but raise it to 50 GW after 2030 rising eventually to over 100 GW a year.

Ø Solar has provided the historic opportunity of producing at any place in any size. In future, therefore, we should produce 5-10 MW at every distribution station across the country. Later storage can be added to these plants. The local consumption will be met by the local generation. This will improve the quality of power in rural areas or small towns and reduce transmission losses.

Ø Every district can become a power producer.

Ø Decentralised solar resolves this problem entirely. If, at or near the distribution station, there is barren land available, then ground mounted solar can be set up

Ø Alternatively, local loads can be met through open access provisions. As already stated, we save the costs of transmission as well as the higher costs incurred by the discom in supplying power to the rural areas. It will also lead to the local distribution systems being improved which should in any case be a priority.

The subsidy being given for roof top if given to such projects will actually lead to a much higher

capacity build up. This is really the sustainable way forward.

Ø Actually, the rooftop has not done as well as was planned. The target was 40 GW by 2022. We have achieved about 10. Recently, the government has announced a new policy to cover 30 GW to encourage roof tops with very substantial subsidies amounting to Rs 78000 cr. This is likely to lead to substantial uptake.

NSEFI is partnering with States to spread awareness. In the long run, however, roof top with subsidies is not a solution. The problem is that if customers with larger roofs install 1-3 KW and obtain substantial subsidy, they are causing equivalent losses to the discom because their current electricity charges may be around Rs 7 or higher. These consumers are saving money in any case, so they don’t need subsidies. The government will pay subsidy to them and additionally pay for the losses to the discom.

It would be better if the subsidy is restricted to only those houses where the connected load is 3 kw or less, where in any case, many governments are giving electricity subsidies. But this would involve a technical challenge for installation on small roofs. The experience so far has not been good with generation not as per expectations because of quality or faulty installation concerns. So we have to be careful.

Alternatively, subsidy could be given to higher capacities but if installed with batteries so that they use solar power during peak time.