AP helps consumers become rooftop power generators

Generate your own power, even sell surplus to state: AP to households

Generate your own power and even sell the surplus to the state’ is what the Andhra Pradesh government’s Non Renewable Energy Development Corporation (Nredcap) is going to tell the households as part of an upcoming campaign to promote rooftop solar systems.

Currently a 1 kwH capacity rooftop solar system comes at a 50 per cent subsidy shared by the New and Renewable Energy Ministry (MNRE) and the Andhra government at 30 per cent and 20 per cent respectively. Further, the state government had extended its 20 per cent subsidy to up to 3 kwH capacity units while the MNRE is considering a similar proposal.

These units will no more operate as off-grid systems as the state energy department has brought in a policy to integrate the rooftop solar systems with the power grid through ‘net metering’ where the consumer can even sell any leftover power to the discoms. The power utility installs a bi-directional meter, which records export and import of power by a particular service.

For this, however, the consumer should have a 3-phase power connection to his house. The procedures and the application form can be downloaded from the websites of AP power discoms.

“We have already written to the MNRE to grant us enough subsidy to support 10 Mw capacity, which translates into 10,000 rooftop solar systems of 1 kwH each during this year,” M Kamalakar Babu, vice chairman and managing director of Nredcap, told the media on Thursday.

To provide information related to rooftop solar systems and demonstrate the functioning of net metering to the citizens, the state nodal agency is organising a two-day exhibition here on August 24-25. Some 20 vendors will showcase their products at the expo.

According to Kamalakar Babu, a citizen who invests Rs 50,000 in a 1 kwH unit — excluding the subsidy component - can save up to Rs 700 a month in energy bills or earn a similar amount by selling the same to the discoms.

The power utilities are expected to pay about Rs 3 per unit for the power fed to the grid by these rooftop systems. Payment for the power injected into the grid will continue only for the first 7 years of the life of the rooftop system as the consumers are expected to recover their investment during this period.