The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) will approach the Union cabinet in the next 30-45 days seeking approval for the solar rooftop scheme SRISTI or Sustainable Rooftop Implementation for Solar Transfiguration of India.

“We have just finalized the SRISTI scheme. It is going to the cabinet for approval and would take around a month to 45 days,” MNRE Secretary Anand Kumar said.

The scheme, part of the larger grid-connected Rooftop Solar (RTS) power programme, aims to bring… discoms to the forefront in the implementation of rooftop solar projects by providing them financial support which will be linked to their performance in facilitating the deployment of RTS.

The second phase of the original solar rooftop scheme is designed to boost the adoption of rooftop in the residential space and would use the network of distribution companies.

The government has set a target to install 40,000 megawatt (MW) of rooftop solar power capacity by 2022. India added new rooftop solar capacity of 1,538 Mw in the current Financial year between April and September 2018, which is around 75 per cent above the previous year for the same period.

As per the scheme, the distribution companies will act as a nodal agency and train the manpower right up to the ground level, said a senior official close to the development.

Currently, solar rooftop adoption is facing challenges related to delays in tendering, involvement of multiple stakeholders, reluctance of discoms due to revenue loss and lack of uniform regulation, among other issues.

The scheme aims to also bridge the knowledge gap that exists related to the agencies to be approached, installation of plant equipment and the long-term benefits of solar rooftop. The scheme is being proposed to streamline the system by making the discoms and its local offices as the nodal points for implementation of the programme.

Discoms are expected to play a key role in the expansion of rooftop solar as they maintain a direct contact with the end-user and provide approval for installation, manage the distribution network and also have billing interface with rooftop owner.

The Scheme:

• The scheme will integrate discoms as an implementing agency in Phase-II of rooftop solar scheme, the statement added.
• The proposed scheme aims to achieve a national solar rooftop target of 40 GW till 2021-2022. It is proposed that a Central Financial Assistance will be provided only for installation of roof top solar plants in residential sectors.
• The residential users may install the plant of capacity as per their requirement and the respective State Electricity Regulatory Commission regulation. But, the subsidy support will be limited up to 5 kWp capacity of plant.
• The incentive towards subsidy to the residential sector is capped at ₹18,000 per kW calculated at benchmark cost of ₹60,000 per kW. The incentive to discoms for social, institutional, government sectors, commercial and industrial sector is capped at ₹5,500 per kW calculated at benchmark cost of ₹55,000 per kW. The total incentive for the residential sector stands at ₹9,000 crore for 5000 MW of installations. The incentive to discoms is capped at ₹14,450 crore for 35,000 MW of roof top solar installations.
• The total outlay is ₹23,450 crore for 40,000 MW of roof top solar installations.
• Mentioning the sector wise targets, the proposal said that Commercial and industrial sector will set up 20,000 MW, the government, Residential, Social and the Institutional sector will set up 5,000 MW each.