Navitas Solar Welcomes Different Initiatives from Central and State Governments

In the last year 2023, 13.5 GW of renewable energy capacity has been added investing INR 74,000 crores. India is able to capture fourth position in renewable energy installed capacity and wind power capacity and fifth in solar power capacity. In 2024-25, 29.91 percent of the total energy must come from renewable energy sources via Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO).

This will gradually rise to 43.33 percent in 2029-30. Recently, MNRE has increased Central Financial Assistance (CFA) for residential consumers opting for rooftop solar projects to INR 18000/kW for 1-3 kW capacity from the previous CFA of INR 14,588/kW & INR 9000/kW from INR 7,294/kW for projects for 3-10 kW. 

The green credit programme is also introduced which will incentivize environment-positive actions through market-based mechanism and generate green credits, which shall be tradable and made available for trading on a domestic market platform. The programme will encourage industries and other entities to meet their obligations. Green credits can be given for environment-positive actions like tree plantation, water management, sustainable agriculture, waste management, air pollution management, mangrove conservation & restoration, ecomark label development and sustainable building & infrastructures. 

Recently, Honorable Prime Minister has announced ‘Pradhanmatri Suryodaya Yojana’ under which the installation of solar rooftops on 1 crore houses will take place which won’t reduce just the electricity bills of the consumers but will also make India self-reliant. The scheme will attract green investments of up to INR 12500 crore, expand solar capacity up to 30 GW+, create more jobs and boost local manufacturing industries of solar products. 

Recently, the Delhi Government has also announced Delhi Solar Policy 2024 to encourage solar rooftops in Delhi, which says consumers will get zero amount of electricity bills and the tariff for commercial and industrial consumers will be halved on the installation of rooftop solar panels.

A latest draft notification released by the Karnataka Energy Regulatory Commission (KERC) proposed Peer-to-Peer (P2P) system for energy transaction, through blockchain-based platform between consumers and the discoms. The notification stated, "The regulation is applicable to all the distribution licensees and eligible consumers of the state of Karnataka and defined blockchain as a digitally distributed decentralized public immutable ledger that exists across a network for recording transactions & the concept has seen innovative usage in the energy sector for decentralized, renewable energy integration, efficiency and flexibility, empowering prosumers/consumer, cost saving, grid resilience, etc." 

KERC notification has clarified that the purpose of framing the regulation is to promote rooftop solar efficiency, utilization of existing assets and to implement innovative solutions. The Policy suggested the use of a blockchain-based electronic platform by the service provider to sell their energy to P2P consumers at a mutually agreed-upon price by the service provider. The service provider is a 'Discom Licensee' that provides P2P energy transaction services on the Blockchain-based platform. The policy has clearly states charges for Under/Over Injection/Drawl by P2P Prosumer/Consumer.

At Navitas Solar, we express gratitude to the Indian Government for promoting renewable energy through various national-level policies and appreciate the efforts put by forming different policies in different ways from various state governments to increase the penetration of renewable energy. We look forward to additional policies and financial incentives, especially for MSME-scale solar manufacturing companies. Encouraging Indian-manufactured products aligns with the 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' initiative. Hoping for Sustainable regulations and policies from national and state governments, we seek various schemes supporting eco-friendly products, contributing to the national goal of achieving 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030.

- Vineet Mittal, Director-Finance & Strategy, Navitas Solar