The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has proposed a new-look rooftop solar power incentive program that targets commercial, industrial, residential, and institutional consumers.
Known as the Sustainable Rooftop Implementation for Solar Transfiguration of India (SRISTI), the program will have a financial support worth Rs 23,450 crore ($3.7 billion) from the government.
The Ministry plans to offer a maximum financial assistance of Rs 18,000 per kilowatt with a maximum covered capacity of 0.5 kilowatts in the residential sector. Similarly, for the institutional, commercial and industrial sector consumers will receive a maximum financial assistance of Rs 5,500 per kilowatt with a maximum covered capacity of 2.62 kilowatts.
Consumers in the commercial and industrial sector will set up 20,000 megawatts of capacity while consumers in the government, residential, social, and institutional sectors will set up 5,000 megawatts of capacity each.
The expansion of the the subsidy scheme in terms of total financial support and consumers covered is essential if the government hopes to achieve an installed rooftop solar power capacity of 40 gigawatts by March 2022.
To encourage the residential sector to adopt rooftop solar power systems the government recently proposed a ‘rent a roof’ policy.