Techno commercial study of grid connected solar PV rooftop systems
Student name: Ms Jetashree
Guide: Dr B Prasad
Year of completion: 2017
Host Organisation: SunAlpha Energy Pvt Ltd
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Mr Puneet Goyal
Abstract: The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission introduced as part of the National Action Plan on
Climate Change 2008 laid out a target of 20 GW solar capacity by 2022. Since India is a tropical
country with close to 300 sunny days in a year and a generation potential of 4 to 7 kWh/ sq.m per
day, the Government of India revised to 20 GW target to 100 GW out of which 40 GW of
installed capacity is to be on rooftops. 2016 saw ambitious rooftop PV targets of 50 MW
(expansion from 25 MW announced) in Gujarat, 350 MW in Tamil Nadu and 400 MW in
Karnataka with other states following the lead (Goel, 2016). The government has put in place a
number of policies and direct and indirect tax benefits to promote solar energy generation from
rooftop systems. Commercial and Industrial sectors are eligible for accelerated depreciation,
custom duty concession, excise duty exemption and tax holidays. It has been proposed to make
solar rooftop mandatory for facilities with greater than 20 kW connected load. This work aims at
analyzing the techno-commercial aspects of a rooftop solar PV project, presenting the reader with
the different business models that may be adopted for solar PV rooftop installations, an overview
of net metering policies and bidding procedures for tenders.
Key Words: National Solar Mission, Solar Energy, Rooftop systems, Policies, Techno-commercial
