Power consumers in Delhi have a reason to cheer as the Delhi government has formulated the Delhi Solar Policy 2024 that will not only ensure zero electricity bill to them but also give them an opportunity to earn by installing solar panels on their rooftops. Making amendments to its Solar Policy 2016 the Arvind Kejriwal government has come out with a more consumer-friendly Solar Policy 2024 that will provide 4500 MW of installed capacity of solar power in Delhi by 2027.
Addressing a press conference Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Delhi Solar Policy 2016, announced in the first term of the AAP government after coming to power in 2015, laid the foundation for solar adoption in Delhi.
“ Under the policy, the rooftop solar panels installed by the people in Delhi have the installed capacity of 250 MW electricity. Besides this, various discoms in Delhi purchased 1250 MW solar power from outside Delhi. So, in total, 1500 MW solar power was made available under the policy. We all know that solar power reduces air pollution,” he said.
The chief minister said as of now, the Delhi government gives 200 units of electricity free (fully subsidized) to residents and gives subsidy of 50% to those residential consumers who consume 201 units to 400 units a month (partly subsidized) and for those with consumption above 400 units a month, there is no subsidy. “But electricity bills of all residential consumers who install solar panels on their rooftops by opting for this policy will be zero, no matter how much electricity they consume. That is the most important takeaway of the policy,” said Kejriwal. T
he chief minister said not only this, each domestic consumer will also be able to generate an additional income of Rs 700 to Rs 900 per month under the policy and inflation will come down further in Delhi. “As per a recent report by the Central government, the national average inflation rate is 6%, and 7% in Haryana and Gujarat, but in Delhi it is only 3%, which is the lowest in the country. After the implementation of the policy, the inflation rate will decline further in Delhi,” he said.
Kejriwal said that it is estimated that there will be an installed capacity of 4500 MW of solar energy by 2027 in Delhi after the implementation of the policy. “The target of Delhi Solar Policy is to increase the total installed solar capacity of Delhi to 4,500 MW by March 2027, that is, by three times of the current capacity of 1500 MW in only three years. This includes 750 MW of rooftop solar plants installations in Delhi and the 3750 MW purchased by the discoms through utility scale solar plants installed outside Delhi by 2027,” he said.
The chief minister said that the cost of installing the rooftop solar panels will be recovered in four years. “In addition to zero bill, they will get a monthly income of Rs 700-900 through Delhi govt’s Generation Based Incentive (GBI) and the total cost of installing the rooftop solar panel will be recovered in four years. Let us say a residential consumer's average monthly consumption is 360 units and the consumer installs a 2kW rooftop solar plant at approx. cost of Rs 90,000 with taxes and subsidy included.