Rooftop Solar: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Roadmap Ahead

Aarush Patel
Jul 24, 2017 · 3 min read

India has taken a great stride on the solar energy front. And this growth is expected to widen in future. Indian government’s National Solar Mission has set aside 40 GW of its 100 GW of solar target by 2022 targeting specifically the rooftop solar systems. The progress, however, has been conspicuously slow with cumulative rooftop capacity being less than 1 GW. Therefore, to meet the 40 GW target, investment of time and money is mandatory. We know a great deal about India’s high potential to generate solar energy, yet the installation of rooftop solar power has been dismal till now. Although there have been certain positives associated with the solar rooftop pv systems, for instance, the increase of more than 26 percent of energy generated from renewable energy in 2016–2017, the overall scenario for rooftop solar has been disappointing.

What are the challenges for rooftop solar?
As already mentioned, government’s 40 GW target by 2022 is specifically for rooftop solar. But unfortunately, as of December 2016, only about 1 GW of installations have taken place. This sluggish process has been due to several factors. Lack of familiarity of with the processes and excessive bureaucracy and adherence to official rules and formalities are the prime reasons for this sluggishness. Apart from these, an insufficient knowledge among citizens about the financial incentives and return-on-investment, a perception that large upfront capital investment is required, and ineffective implementation of net metering in various states. The ground challenges are however more complicated. EPC providers nag about the lack of uniform roofs that are detrimental to install big panels.

Opportunities lying on the rooftop
These situations call for comprehensive efforts by agencies to spread awareness among the citizens and motivate the solar service providers to innovate with respect to regional differences. If we go by expert reports rooftop solar is fast becoming the quickest growing renewable power sub-segment in India. Statistics show that this growth has been three-fold from 72 MW per year to 227 MW per year since 2013.
Cost is the major factor driving the steep growth of rooftop solar. Rooftop PV is now priced between $69 to $92 per MWh. This has made the various sectors, especially the residential sector most competitive.

The Roadmap Ahead
The roadmap is to take rooftop solar to great heights. Incentives for both capital investment and power generation by solar rooftop have been encouraged. The installation of solar panel on rooftops saves land and improves the environment. Government buildings, educational institutions, hospitals, commercial buildings, residential properties are being encouraged to install rooftop solar systems.
India is on the right track with expected installation of more than 10 GW of renewable energy solutions per year from 2017. The solar rooftop market is on the threshold of dynamic growth triggered by increased investment in large-scale rooftop solar PV.

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