Greentech Lead India: Earlier this year, the state of Andhra Pradesh announced a Net Metering for Solar Grid Interactive Roof-Top and Small SPV power plants in the State that allows customers to generate solar power for self-consumption and sell excess power to the grid when it is not being consumed by them.
The net metering policy adopted by Andhra Pradesh, experts say, will boost the solar generation capacity of rooftop models. This would encourage customers to set up solar plants of larger capacities and utilize their rooftop to its fullest.
The Solar Net Metering System (SNMS) system works through a two-way meter that records net energy between export of generated energy and import of DISCOM energy for a billing month. At the end of a billing month, if there is a net import, customers pay the applicable retail supply tariff decided by the DISCOM. More importantly customers will get paid for the surplus power they supply to the grid.
Important considerations of the policy in this regard said, “Surplus energy injected by Solar Roof Top/Small Solar PV generator shall be considered for payment by concerned APDISCOMs at pooled cost as may be decided by APERC for that year.”
Earlier news reports also revealed that the state is ready to offer a rate of around Rs 3.50 per unit.
The payment of pooled cost will be made effective for a period of seven years from the date of establishment of such SPV plant. The settlement of registered surplus energy will be carried out on a half yearly basis.
Customers can avail various subsidies by MNRE and the state government. The Centre through the New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NREDCAP) will give a subsidy of up to 30 percent of the cost of the solar panel up to a capacity of 3 kW while the state government will extend its financial support for another 20 percent of the cost for domestic consumers.
On an average, a two-bedroom house having basic electrical appliances such as LED lights, laptops, fans and LED television sets can easily save nearly 1.5 kW of power per day if they take the 3 kW SNMS that which generates 540 units of power per month, an official at NREDCAP said earlier.
picture source: thehindu.com