Indian State Of Gujarat Announces Subsidy For Rooftop Solar Power Systems
In an attempt to boost the relatively neglected rooftop solar power market, the western Indian state of Gujarat has announced attractive subsidies for homeowners looking to set up rooftop solar power systems.
The Gujarat Energy Developer Authority has announced Rs 10,000 (US$150) to Rs 20,000 (US$300) subsidy per kW of rooftop solar power system for homeowners. This financial support will be in addition to the 30% subsidy being offered by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy at the central government level.
The Gujarat government plans to include 100,000 consumers under this program. Once this target is achieved, the government will review the program and decide its future.
Gujarat already has in place net metering regulations (pdf) that allow consumers to install rooftop solar power systems and inject electricity to the grid.
Gujarat has been the pioneer in the Indian solar power market. The state’s solar power program predates the central government’s National Solar Mission. The state was also among the first to successfully implement rooftop solar power systems tied with a feed-in tariff policy structure.
Gujarat is famous for the successful implementation of canal-top solar power projects. Several other states are now looking to emulate that program.
India plans to have an operational solar power capacity of 100 GW by March 2022, which includes 40 GW of capacity from rooftop projects. While the utility-scale projects have attracted investment from Indian and foreign developers, the government has not been as enthusiastic to promote rooftop solar power systems. Success in this sector is likely to depend on the pace of implementation of policies by the state governments.
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