Hyderabad: More than private individuals, commercial and industrial sectors are availing the various benefits and concessions extended by the state and Central governments for solar rooftop projects which are intended for the domestic sector. The state and Central governments are providing 30 per cent subsidy, plus other benefits like exemptions and concessions in VAT, Income Tax etc., to solar rooftop projects in the domestic sector, but the schemes haven’t really caught the fancy of private individuals.
Officials subscribe various reasons for this like non-availability of space, lack of awareness etc. The Centre has given permission to TS to allow 42 MW solar rooftop projects in domestic, commercial and industrial sectors. In the present financial year, 1,523 applications to set up solar rooftop projects were received by government and government cleared 914, totalling about 14 MW. Of this, a majority applications were from commercial and industrial establishments and a very few were from individuals.
The government will allow up to solar rooftop projects of 1 MW capacity in the domestic sector which would be given grid connectivity. A 3 kilowatt (KW) solar rooftop project can produce about 50 units per day, about 450 units per month. In the domestic sector if one sets up a 3KW solar rooftop project and consumes only 300 units per month, the remaining 150 units will be purchased by power utilities at the market rate.
If the monthly consumption is 500 units, he will have to pay for 50 units. It costs around Rs 70,000 to set up 1KW solar rooftop project, and if an individual sets up a 3KW project, the investments will be returned 10 years. The lifetime of the project is about 25 years, officials said. TS New and Renewable Energy Corporation MD A. Sudhakar Rao said that they have given solar rooftop projects with the capacity of 50 MW. He said only the domestic sector is entitled to the government subsidy.
