The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) India Solar Panel, a volunteer-led visionary think tank in the solar energy sector providing unbiased recommendations in the areas of solar energy policy, regulations and technology, released its first whitepaper in India today. The whitepaper, titled Recent developments in Net-Metering in India and the Way Forward, presents the most recent developments in the net-metering scheme for small scale solar projects across India and also analyses the case when Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are availed by consumers owning roof-top solar systems.
A key insight of this whitepaper is that RECs availed by consumers under the current framework will lower the market performance, which is already marred by the poor enforcement of Renewable Purchase Obligation.
Net-Metering, a billing mechanism that credits solar energy system owners for the electricity they add to the grid, allows consumers to directly contribute to enhancing the renewable energy capacity of the country by availing of state and government subsidies that are in force. Recently, the need for fostering small scale renewable energy projects in India has been on the rise and both the Centre as well as individual State governments have started putting concerted efforts to bring in relevant policy frameworks.
“With Net Metering, consumers can directly participate in the solar revolution in India and contribute to the capacity addition. Estimates indicate that rooftop solar holds a potential of about 3-4 GW over the next 3 years”, said Vineeth Vijayaraghavan, Chair, IET India Solar Panel.
In August 2013, the concept of net-metering in case of small scale/roof top solar projects was taken up for discussions by the Hon’ble Forum of Regulators (FOR), followed by which a draft of model regulations was rolled out which will facilitate and expedite the process of putting such regulations in place at state levels.
The whitepaper can be accessed here
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