NEW DELHI: Delhi government on Thursday gave a green signal to the city’s new draft solar policy. The draft ‘Delhi Solar Policy 2022’ aimed to enable 25 percent of Delhi’s annual electricity demand to be met by solar by 2025, a jump of three times from 9 percent in 2022.The policy outlines a target of 6,000 MW of total installed solar capacity by 2025 which will make Delhi a leader in solar energy consumption. The operative period of the policy will be three years.
“New solar policy will provide a host of benefits through generation-based incentives (GBI) and capital subsidy for residential and commercial consumers in Delhi, besides introducing innovative models of solar deployment. With this policy, our aim is to make the city a leader in solar energy consumption in not only India but also the world,” said Deputy CM Manish Sisodia.
“The policy has been prepared by Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission after extensive stakeholder consultations with the industry, consumers, government entities, financing institutions, and clean energy think tanks. Along with increasing solar energy consumption, the policy also aims to generate over 12,000 green jobs in Delhi,” the Deputy chief minister said.
He said that the deployment of solar plants on all existing state government properties with a rooftop area of 500 square metres or above is now mandatory. It will be carried out in a phased manner and shall be completed within the operative period of this policy.
On incentives to consumers for generating and using solar energy, Sisodia said that the policy aims to create a unified single-window state portal managed by the Delhi Solar Cell that will provide information on the benefits of solar PV systems, process-related guidelines, and timeline.
He further said to motivate consumers to use solar energy the government will provide various incentives such as Rs 3/kWh for residential solar systems up to 3 kW, Rs 2/kWh for residential solar systems above 3 kW, and up to 10kW, Rs 2/kWh for CGHS and RWAs with solar systems up to 500kW (at 10kW per house) will be provided to consumers.
“This apart, the government will give an early-bird GBI of Rs 1/kWh shall be offered for the first time for commercial consumers for the first 200 MW of solar deployment. For residential consumers, a capital subsidy for mounting structures will be provided at the rate of Rs 2,000 per kW up to a maximum of Rs 10,000 per consumer and adjusted against electricity bills, and taxes and duties will not be levied on generation from RTS, whether for self-consumption or supplied to the grid,” Sisodia said.