Increasing share of solar rooftop 'win-win proposition' for discoms, consumers: study

Increasing the share of solar rooftop is a "win-win proposition" for both distribution companies and consumers alike and can lead to significant net financial savings for both, a new study claimed on Thursday.

It said the discoms can enjoy net gains of upto Rs 0.22 for every unit of electricity generated through solar rooftops.

The study was recently conducted by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) and the findings are based on the data collected from solar rooftop installations connected to nine distribution transformers and one group housing society feeder in BRPL's license area, the discom said in a statement.

"Increasing the share of solar rooftop is a win-win proposition for both the discoms and the consumers alike. It can lead to significant net financial savings for both," it said.

"Discoms could enjoy net gains of upto Rs 0.22 for every unit of electricity generated via solar rooftops," the statement said.

Further, the study finds that discoms stand to benefit more by scaling up solar rooftop installations among residential consumers, especially those in lower tariff slabs, versus industrial and commercial consumers.

The findings are a part of an MoU between CEEW and BRPL, which led to the design of a framework to determine cost-benefit analysis of solar rooftop from a discom's perspective.

"Over a system's lifetime, discoms could save Rs 5,500 (net-present value) for every kilowatt of capacity installed. This is in addition to the savings accruing to the rooftop solar consumers," the statement said.

The CEEW-BRPL study recommends deploying solar rooftops in areas where distribution transformers experience frequent overloading and day time peaks to increase net benefits, it added.

"This study highlights costs and benefits of deploying solar rooftops for discoms and could guide strategic deployment of solar installations in licensed areas going forward. Widespread adoption of solar power is beneficial to both consumers and the discoms alike," the statement quoting BRPL CEO Amal Sinha said.

To meet increasing power demand and avoid distribution network upgrade, discoms must prioritise the net export of solar power from subsidised consumers into the grid and adopt net-metering based compensation, the study found.

Neeraj Kuldeep, Programme Lead, CEEW, said, "Our analysis highlights that focusing on scaling solar rooftops among residential consumers leads to enhanced discom revenues, while also advancing India's solar targets, and creating new jobs".

BRPL and BYPL (BSES Yamuna Power Limited) are premier power distribution companies and joint ventures between Reliance Infrastructure Limited and Delhi government.