Solar power initiatives in Rajarhat New Town…

 

Rajarhat New Town is slowly inching towards becoming a solar city. The New Town Kolkata development authority (NKDA) is planning to introduce net metering system to encourage consumers to install solar panels and is also planning to procure electric scooters to be run in short distances in the township.

Officials of the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) came at the city recently to participate in a workshop organised in New Town on the issue of net metering system in context of solar energy use. Officials of the bureau of energy efficiency, West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Authority (WBREDA) and others were present at the workshop.

It was discussed in the workshop that to meet the energy demands and for climate reasons, solar energy should be used as much as possible. For this purpose, solar panels in roof tops, on the canals and on specific designated points on the ground can act as virtual distributed and decentralized powerhouses to generate additional energy which is clean and non conventional.

The consumers may pay only the net electrical power consumed and the solar power used will be put into the electricity grid which will result in savings in the power bill. This will further encourage consumers to invest in rooftop solar panels. NKDA officials said that this concept will be most attractive in new townships like New Town since the cost of roof top solar panels will be only marginal to the cost of construction of a new home.

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Status of Financial Assistance provided by MNRE to West Bengal for off-Grid Solar projects ...

 

Ministry of New & Renewable Energy during the financials years 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 had released around Rs. 11.78 Crores, Rs. 12.47 Crores, Rs. 8.12 Crores and Rs. 3.82 Crores respectively to West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency (WBREDA) for various off-grid and grid connected solar power projects.

Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, under its Off-Grid and Decentralized Solar Application Scheme of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission provides a subsidy of 30% of the project cost ranging from Rs. 42 to Rs. 72 per watt peak for off-grid SPV power plants having module capacity up to 100 kWp depending on their capacity and configuration in general category States.

However, in Special Category States, UT Islands and districts with international borders, it provides 90% of the cost of the off-grid SPV power plants limited to in the range of Rs. 126/- and Rs 216/- per Wp for installation by Central and State Government Ministries, departments and their organizations, State Nodal Agencies and Local Bodies.

The Ministry also provides a subsidy of 30% of the cost of project limited to Rs. 150 per watt for installation of micro/mini-grid SPV power plants of unit capacity up to 250 kW.

The ministry is providing generation based incentives at a rate equal to difference between CERC approved applicable tariff and a notional rate of Rs. 5.50 per unit for the year 2010-11, escalated at three per cent every year thereafter for solar power projects of total capacity 100 MW.

The Government is extending exemption on excise duty on the components procured from within the country and levying concessional customs duty on the components imported for the first time installation of solar power plant. Accelerated depreciation and tax holiday facilities are also available for solar power projects.

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