Government Grants Solar Panels for your Home
If you are the average Indian homeowner, you still would be dependent on the electricity that you get from the state run electricity grid. As you know, the electricity grid can be unreliable. There are usually frequent outages that take a long time to correct and then there also may be natural disasters like floods that can cause your life to grind to a halt.
It may be difficult for you to believe, but solar power is reliable, foolproof, and doesn’t require high levels of one-time investment in the beginning. It also cuts down your electricity bill by at least 70 percent.
Solar is your own personal source of power that is becoming more popular with each year. Consider this- solar power continues to be one of the fastest-growing energy sources in the United States of America, with a 30 percent increase over the last year. In India too, homeowners are now converting to solar power like never before. India has in fact earned itself the title of being the fastest developing solar power industry globally.
What would really interest you, an average home owner is the fact that the government is working towards establishing solar power as a primary source of energy and for making this a reality, it has launched various schemes to encourage you to be solar-happy.
Here’s a quick lowdown-
The Rooftop Scheme:
The Central and State governments are helping homeowners like you switch to solar rooftop panels by making them cost-effective. There were not many takers for this scheme earlier because of high costs of installing rooftop solar panels.
According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the Central Government pays 30 per cent of the installation cost for the rooftop PV or Photovoltaic system in most of the states that are clubbed in the general category, like Telangana.
The Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Lakshadweep, which are deemed to be in the special category, get up to 70 per cent of the installation cost. The State Nodal Agencies (SNAs) are the bodies that offer subsidy schemes to you for installing rooftop PV systems.
Here are a Few Other Perks offered by the Government for Installing Roof Top Solar Panels:
If you are planning to install rooftop PV systems, you can get a priority sector loans of up to 10 lakhs from any nationalized bank under the home loan or home improvement loan.
After the installation of solar panels, you will receive Rs. 2 per unit of electricity generated as an incentive. What this means is that you can sell surplus solar power generated in your household solar unit to the state electricity grid at Rs. 2 per unit. For this the electricity board will track the energy consumed as well as generated by you. This is called ‘net metering’. You will receive a credit on your electricity bill. You will get paid for the electricity you give to the electricity grid at the same price that you pay for the electricity you take from the grid.
In the end, Here’s a Quick Look at the Numbers:
- The average cost of installation of a roof PV system (without subsidy)- Rs. Â 60,000 – 70,000 on an average.
- The average cost of the same after leveraging 30% subsidy- Rs. 42,000 – 49,000.
- You should generate 1100 kWh – 1500 kWh per year to avail generation-based incentive.
- You can earn up to Rs. 2000 to 3000 per annum as a generation-based incentive, on an average.
All you have to do to claim all these incentives and bonuses is to contact the electricity provider. They will visit the installation site and approve it after assessment.
