The shadow on solar rooftop

The Union government had announced the Phase II of its solar rooftop programme, setting an ambitious target of achieving 40,000 MW of installed capacity by 2022. However, as we stand at the doorstep of 2022, this target seems elusive. India’s installed solar rooftop capacity at present is only about 6,111 MW (or about 15% of the target). In a recent review by the ministry of new and renewable energy, most states have reported dismal solar rooftop numbers. Even urbanised, high-income Delhi, which had a rooftop solar subsidy allocation for a capacity of about 30 MW, has achieved only 20% of this. At the national level, MNRE allotted subsidy for capacity of about 3,000 MW solar rooftop to various states, but only 699 MW (or 23%) has been added so far. While much smaller countries like Vietnam have installed over 9,000 MW in a single year, India has now become a laggard globally.

Much of this can been attributed to a policy framework that is designed to impose unreasonable conditions on the solar installers. Under the current regime, each discom is responsible for solar rooftop installations in its own area, and tenders call for almost negligible qualification criteria.