PM Surya Ghar: Why govt is tightening tracking of solar generation data

The government has long required generation data from rooftop solar systems. A new MNRE order now tightens inverter-level reporting, requiring daily output data to be shared with the National Portal

The government is moving beyond tracking the number of rooftop solar systems installed under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana to measuring how much electricity these systems actually generate. Last week, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) directed inverter manufacturers to share daily generation data with the National Portal.

 

The move comes as the government is also reportedly considering changes to the scheme that could link future support more closely to actual electricity generation and system performance than to installations alone.

Why is the government tracking generation?

Rooftop solar generation is not fully captured in conventional electricity statistics because some of the electricity produced is consumed by households behind the meter.

   

In July, the government-appointed Expert Committee on Energy Statistics, in its report, said generation, export and self-consumption data from rooftop solar systems are not uniformly recorded or aggregated by distribution companies.

 

“However, the meter readings are either not visible to the discoms or, even if they are visible, the readings are not recorded systematically and reported,” the committee said.

 

The latest MNRE requirements sought to address this gap by obtaining generation data directly from rooftop solar inverters.

 

In an office memorandum, issued on August 17, the ministry explicitly directed inverter OEMs and manufacturers to share daily generation data, the cumulative energy generated in a day, with the National Portal through a uniform application programming interface (API), mapped to the inverter serial number 

How will the monitoring system work?

Inverter manufacturers, as per the MNRE, supposed to send daily cumulative generation data to the National Portal through a common application programming interface. The data will be linked to the inverter’s serial number.

 

The requirements also cover the location and storage of data. Applications, monitoring and control servers, as well as cloud-hosted data linked to inverter systems, are required to be located in India.

 

The inverter will provide the daily cumulative generation figure, which manufacturers will transmit through the common API to the National Portal. The information will be mapped to the individual inverter.

 

According to a report by The Times of India, only around 15 per cent of inverters currently have the capability to share data through APIs. An integrated dashboard to collate the information is also yet to be created.

 

The data would allow generation to be assessed at the individual-system level and analysed across states and distribution companies.

 

Notably, as of now, more than 4.4 million rooftop solar systems have been installed under PM Surya Ghar, benefiting over 5.2 million households and adding 15.6 GW of capacity. 

How does the current subsidy work?

PM Surya Ghar currently provides central financial assistance (CFA) for residential rooftop solar systems based on system capacity.

 

The government provides 60 per cent of the system cost for systems up to 2 kW and 40 per cent of the additional system cost between 2 kW and 3 kW. The subsidy is capped at 3 kW.

 

At the current benchmark prices, the subsidy is ₹30,000 for a 1 kW system, ₹60,000 for a 2 kW system and ₹78,000 for a system of 3 kW or more, according to the Prime Minister’s Office. (PMO)

 

The scheme aims to install rooftop solar systems in 1 crore households and add 30 GW of residential rooftop solar capacity. The government estimates that the systems will generate 1,000 billion units of electricity over their 25-year lifetime, according to the PMO.

 

The current subsidy framework is therefore linked to the capacity of the rooftop solar system. Generation monitoring is a separate requirement.

Possible change in subsidy design

The government is reportedly considering an overhaul of PM Surya Ghar under a proposed next phase.

 

According to a Financial Express report, the revised framework could link support to actual electricity generation, battery storage, operations and maintenance and service delivery.

 

The proposal could include generation guarantees, virtual metering, AI-based quality checks and a digital record of a system’s output, service history and warranty status, the report said.

 

The proposed changes would shift the programme towards an asset-performance model, according to Financial Express.

 

The proposed changes, the report said, are not going to replace the existing capacity-linked CFA under PM Surya Ghar.

What could the data be used for?

Generation data could also help distribution companies plan their power purchases.

 

“If electricity distribution companies have data on electricity generated by rooftop solar plants (behind the meter) in their respective areas and the units consumed by consumers, they will be able to plan their power purchases accordingly,” Alekhya Datta, director at The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri), told The Times of India.

 

The latest requirements give the government a system to measure rooftop solar generation at the individual inverter level as the government considers whether future support under PM Surya Ghar should be linked more closely to generation and system performance.