Rooftop solar capacity: Here’s how you can get financial benefits by embracing it

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The rooftop solar capacity in India in the April-June quarter in 2021 stood at 521MW, a whopping 517% increase compared to the same period in 2020. Sequentially, the rise is 53%. What perhaps explains such a massive spurt in rooftop installation is the consumer realisation that solar energy is cheaper.

According to a report by Mercom India, if your power bills are in the range of Rs 3,000 a month, installing a 5kW rooftop solar system can bring the bills down to zero. If your electricity bills are to the tune of Rs 7,000 a month, with the same system you could reduce the monthly bills by Rs 3,000.

If your monthly bills are somewhere around Rs 1,500 a month, in that case, you would not only have to pay anything towards power consumption, you would actually be in a position to earn money from distributing the surplus power.

Earning from solar power

If you install a 5kW rooftop solar system and your monthly bills are around Rs 1,500, you could earn up to Rs 1,800 a month from distributing the surplus electricity through a process known as net metering, where consumers are compensated for excess power generation at a price determined by the state.

Although a Net Metering connection is not easy to get and its availability depends on where you live.

The Mercom report quoted Jayant Mhetar, co-founder and chief executive officer of Ztric India, as saying that the breakeven period for a 5 kW solar system installed with a government subsidy is between 2-3 years.

Government subsidies

The government provides various capital subsidies, such as the SRISTI scheme which subsidises solar rooftop installation in urban areas. Central financial assistance of up to 40% for the installation of solar panels up to 3 kW, 20% for capacity beyond 3 kW and up to 10 kW. For rural households, the central government has introduced its Saubhagya scheme.

In terms of tax benefits, the government provides direct and indirect tax benefits such as sales tax, safeguard or anti-dumping duty inclusions, excise duty exemptions and custom duty exceptions. Property developers are exempted from income tax on all earnings from a project in its first 10 years of operation.

Gujarat accounted for more than half of the total rooftop installations (55% to be precise). It is followed by Maharashtra and Haryana, which were the top three states in terms of installed capacity, a report by Mercom India Research said.