Solar Rooftop: Perspective of Discoms
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY “Solar will come and it can’t be stopped” Government of India has set an ambitious target of 175 GW of installed capacity of renewable energy (RE) by 2022, including 100 GW of grid-connected solar power, comprising 60 GW utility-scale solar, and 40 GW solar rooftop. Though India has made significant progress in implementation of utility-scale solar projects, achieving 40 GW of solar rooftop installations is still a substantial challenge. As on December 2018, installed capacity of solar rooftop systems was approximately 3.85 GW1. Distribution Companies (Discoms), being at the tail end of electricity supply chain, constitute a crucial link with the consumers and can, therefore, help accelerate the growth of solar rooftop sector. On behalf of the Distribution Utilities Forum (DUF), DUF Secretariat interacted with 10 representative Discoms across all grid regions of India to understand the challenges and opportunities associated with integration of solar rooftop into their systems. The study also reviews the literature (of last 2-3 years) available on this sector in the country and examines current policies and regulations notified by the central and state governments meant to drive the growth of the sector in the country. During the course of our discussions, it was observed that Discoms perceived that solar rooftop could be a profitable business proposition if they can take an anchor role in its implementation. However, to accelerate the growth of the sector, certain challenges are required to be addressed through regulatory interventions and customized business models. Consultations with the Discoms under this study brought out their views towards solar rooftop presenting different aspects of opportunities, challenges, and apprehensions. 1
¾¾ As far as the technical aspects are concerned, Discoms perceive challenges in integration of increasing penetration of solar rooftop, which are presently not apparent on account of injection of solar rooftop in the grid being quite nominal. Need for storage of excess energy generation for use in accordance with the system demand, importance of anti-islanding feature, and determination of appropriate PV hosting capacity in their distribution network & accessibility to the solar inverters as and when required. Other issues underlined by the Discoms that may arise with increasing solar rooftop capacity in the grid are mainly related to the quality of power injected into the grid, especially the harmonics effects due to power electronic devices used in solar PV system. Discoms suggested need for power flow simulation studies to understand the technical impacts of increased penetration of solar rooftop on the distribution network, and corresponding mitigation measures. ¾¾ Most of the Discoms expressed revenue impact due to solar rooftop as a major concern as they still have to pay the fixed charges under PPAs with generating stations, contend with reduced energy sales and an increased burden of cross subsidy. It was also discussed that despite the challenges on the financial aspects of the Discoms, solar rooftop could also provide an opportunity for them to optimize their scheduling of power procurement, reduce their power purchase cost, and defer their network augmentation expenditure. In order to avail the benefits of solar rooftop, the Discoms suggested need for new and innovative business models (which could be utility-driven) addressing their concerns so as to provide required impetus for implementation of solar rooftop systems.
“Agricultural consumers must be solarized!”
India Solar Compass Q4 2018, Bridge to India
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