Recently the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the Capital informed that the new Delhi Solar Policy, 2024, rolled out larger incentives and subsidies for individuals to install solar power systems at their businesses and homes so that they can lessen electricity costs.
Under the new policy, by March 2027, the government will look to triple Delhi’s solar power consumption from 1500MW to 4500MW, which is approximately 20% of the city’s overall power demand.
Early this year, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced the policy and its features and officials said that the policy was informed after the government received all the necessary clearances.
Recently, power minister Atishi said that the government will set up camps across the city to facilitate the setting up of solar panels.
By 2027, we aim to have 20% of Delhi’s total electricity usage sourced from solar energy. For power generation assessment, the Delhi government will make a provision. For this, the government will cooperate with certain institutions that will measure the capacity of power generation across Delhi using satellite technology. This will relieve the people’s stress of estimating the potential power generation capacity on their rooftops. She also added that camps will be set up in different parts of Delhi to facilitate this process.
On the 29th of January, the Kejriwal cabinet passed the solar policy. At the core of the policy are two incentives. One is a subsidy for people to install solar systems. A subsidy of ₹2,000 per kilowatt (KW) will be given by the government for the cost of the system. Generally, a 2KW solar installation cost would be around ₹90,000 which, with the subsidy, would come to ₹86,000. The subsidy has been capped at a maximum of ₹10,000.
The second one was where people will be paid ₹1-3 per unit of solar energy they generate. This will effectively help lessen people’s power bills. Also, every unit of solar energy generated will cancel out a unit a person consumes from the power grid, effectively further reducing the power they consume from the discoms.
In addition, the new rules also make it compulsory for all government buildings with an area greater than 500 sqm to install solar panels over the next three years.
The government expects to spend around ₹570 crore towards the implementation of the new policy, says the officials. Under the policy, the money that individuals will spend on installing solar panels that last about 25 years is also expected to be recovered within the next four years because of the additional subsidies that the government will provide for the next five years, says a Delhi government official.
A second official said that to monitor the progress of the implementation of the policy, a committee will be established under the state power minister, with a dedicated “Delhi Solar Cell” to also be constituted within the power department.
