Why hasn’t rooftop solar taken off yet in India?
State governments and large energy corporations have made big strides with solar. Yet, rooftop solar has not taken off yet. What could the reasons be?
India is growing richer. Consequently, the energy demand of the second largest population on earth is growing as well. To address this need, we increased our net import of energy by 236% between the years 2000 and 2015. It’s no wonder then, that India became the 3rd largest consumer of energy in 2017. Whether such massive energy demands are met by conventional or renewable sources will determine whether the earth is pushed to a point where climate change can be reversed or not.
It was heartening when India announced that it will begin to produce 100 gigawatts of solar electricity by 2022. This is decidedly ambitious in itself, but the bigger surprise is in the fact that the government wants 40% of this target to come from “rooftop photovoltaic” (RTPV), i.e. solar electricity generation systems installed on the roofs of homes, offices and industries. Since RTPV systems are typically less than 1 megawatt in size, and are usually wholly owned by the owner whose roof the system is installed on, a huge, concerted effort will be required to meet this target.
India is making great strides when it comes to huge, megawatt (MW) scale projects. The Pavagada Solar Park, the world’s largest solar project, is situated in Karnataka. It is spread over 13,000 acres and is on course to generate 2,000 MW when fully commissioned. It is, rightly, reason for us to feel proud.
However, RTPV has not shone as brightly, leading people to wonder why that might be. There are many advantages to solar. It:
- Is cheap: At ~₹ 2.4 per unit (kWh) over it’s lifetime of 25 years, solar is by far the cheapest. Compare that to the price of electricity from the government, which is around ₹ 7 per unit for residences, and ₹ 10 per unit for commercial establishments (taking taxes and other charges into account). Also, keep in mind that electricity prices have been going up by 8% and diesel prices by 18%, each year.
- Provides uninterrupted power: You will get uninterrupted power during the day when the sun is shining. This works great for offices and industry who use the power when it is available.
- Is long lasting: Typically, solar panels are guaranteed to produce at 80% efficiency or greater for 25 years; the life of the panels may well last longer. (This is also supported by the fact that contracts with the government – where electricity companies promise to buy power that you generate on your rooftop – are for 25 years.)
- Is low on maintenance: There are no moving parts in a solar electricity generation system. Maintenance simply entails inspection of connections and cleaning of panels on a regular basis.
- Is environmentally sound: Even taking the pollution that solar panels can cause during their manufacture into account, they have a net-positive on the environment. No soot is spewed into the air as with conventional coal fired plants; no jungles are drowned or people displaced, as with hydropower; and there is definitely no radioactive waste to deal with, which we – humanity – has no idea what to do about.
- Has negligible transmission losses: Since the electricity is produced where it is consumed, transmission losses are negligible — less than 5% if the installers know what they are doing. Compare that to an “acceptable” 15% loss in the average state in India, or a whopping 50% loss in some states. (That’s just transmission losses; a good portion of produced energy is unaccounted for.)
- Is democratic and distributed: This is an often overlooked aspect. Solar power, unlike most other sources of energy, is not directly controlled by the governments or large corporations. You can generate your own power and run your house or business completely independently of them, wherever you are.
So, if it has all this going for it, one wonders why it isn’t installed on every rooftop in the country already? Here are some possible reasons, the biggest causes first:
- Awareness: In our experience, most people think about solar water heaters when asked if they have “solar” at home; they had heard of solar panels, sure, but not thought that they could get one on their roofs. Past that, they thought that what the government provides is good enough, thought that buying a UPS or diesel generator would solve the interruptions and inadequate supply of government electricity, or, simply didn’t know where to start.
- Costs and gains: It takes between 3 and 8 years for a buyer to break even, depending on the rates they are paying, and the configuration of the system. While that still means between 17 and 22 years of free electricity, the break-even period is longer than most people are willing to wait. While banks do offer loans at 8.5% payable over 5 years, there may be room for further financial innovation.
- Unscrupulous advisors: We vendors are not above blame. Vendors can charge more if they think they can get away with it, recommend solar even though site conditions aren’t viable, or cut costs by using low quality components. The result is that the market is not transparent about their pricing, and potential customers are scared to venture further since solar-electricity is more of a luxury than a need at the moment.
- Inconsistent government policies: The government has flip-flopped wildly where solar electricity is concerned. The rates at which they bought electricity from an individual producer used to be ₹ 9.75 per unit; that fell to around ₹ 3 per unit this year. And the same inconsistency has been shown towards electric vehicles too — they promoted it, but don’t show them any real, tangible love in terms of subsidies for manufacturers or tax breaks for consumers. And, let’s not forget, there is corruption to contend with as well.
While there are these problems, they are problems that are “outside the system” as it were – solar electricity is a good, solid, viable alternative. Some of the solutions are in our hands: we vendors can be more transparent about pricing and the components we use, only install systems that are sufficient for their buyer’s own use, and not rely on the government for anything. Buyers, on the other hand, could start by being more open to using solar electricity, grin and bare the first few years where they haven’t broken even yet, and help spread the word about solar electricity.
After all, everyone’s future depends on getting rooftop solar right in our country!
