Rooftop Solar PV Projects - Saviour of Discoms or Vicious Cycle of Death

Govt. of India has set an ambitious target of 40 GWp of Rooftop solar to be installed in our country by 2022. Against the target, the actual commissioning has been about 15% of this target till date. While the reasons for the same may vary across states, this paper examines whether promotion of rooftop solar PV across the consumers through the Power Distribution Utility led / facilitated models & initiatives can drive India’s rooftop solar story. Rooftop Solar PV is a Distributed Energy Resource (DER) which has advantage of being an embedded network element as well as a source of power generation. The solar power generation generally follows the morning / day peak of Indian utilities, India being a tropical country. The paper highlights the initiatives undertaken by BSES Rajdhani to implement the Rooftop Solar City initiative in a structured format, to reap benefits (estimated through-a framework developed named Value of Grid Connected Rooftop Solar (VGRS)) and enable the transformation of-the present day Discom to a Distribution System Operator. There is a need to focus on solarisation of residential-roofs through innovative business models, which shall help in introducing equitable retail tariff across consumer-segments, optimizing the need for cross-subsidized tariff and govt. subsidy to electricity consumers. The initiative, if implemented in holistic manner, has potential of positively impacting the availability of competitive green electricity availability for commercial and industrial consumers, while reducing the challenges of Open Access for the Discom. Besides, the residential consumers can become self dependent to a large extent, thereby having a sustainable source of low cost power. In Delhi, Hon’ble Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) has already introduced the models of Group Net Metering (GNM) and Virtual Net Metering (VNM), which is a good start for introduction of P2P trading of surplus solar power amongst consumers subsequently, leading to beginning of Retail Market reforms. Besides, Rooftop Solar has a positive impact on reducing the wire losses of Discoms, as well as providing relief to-the LV distribution network from congestion especially during peak summer days. The paper concludes that Rooftop Solar PV, if deployed strategically, can be very beneficial for Discoms, especially-it can play an enabling role in its transition to DSO. There is a need for innovation in Business model focussing on residential consumers and evaluation of rooftop solar PV projects from a holistic perspective is desired by the Discoms.