Telangana solar program hindered by DCR policy, Discom officials attitude

The DCR solar PV modules refer to solar panels in which both the solar cells and modules are manufactured within the country, adhering to the Domestic Content Requirement policy brought by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

Hyderabad: The Centre’s ambitious mission to install rooftop solar plants in 10 million households all over the country is facing hurdles due to the Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) policy, which is reportedly increasing the cost of renewable energy equipment and in turn, forcing many people to drop their plans to shift to solar.

The DCR solar PV modules refer to solar panels in which both the solar cells and modules are manufactured within the country, adhering to the Domestic Content Requirement policy brought by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

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The DCR policy mandates that specific projects, especially those associated with subsidies and the CPSU (Central Public Sector Undertakings) scheme, use solar panels that are domestically manufactured.

The MNRE introduced this policy to promote local manufacturing and support the “Make in India” initiative, however, experts feel that the DCR was likely to increase the cost of renewable energy equipment, leading to an increase in the cost of renewable energy itself. Solar developers say domestic producers, while rapidly growing and being pushed along by policy initiatives, are still not able to meet demand of the market.

“By forcing developers of renewable energy to source from domestic suppliers, the DCR policy is raising the cost of generating renewable electricity, ” says Telangana Solar Energy Association President B Ashok Kumar Goud.

The “PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana” scheme envisages subsidizing rooftop solar installations for nearly one crore households in the country involving an estimated subsidy of Rs. 75,000 crore.

However, only domestic manufacturers, certified as part of the Approved Models and Manufacturers list, would be eligible to supply solar equipment for the scheme.

The scheme provides a subsidy of 60 percent of the solar unit cost for systems up to 2 kW capacity and 40 percent of additional system cost for systems between 2 to 3 kW capacity.

The subsidy has been capped at 3 kW capacity. At current benchmark prices, this will mean Rs. 30,000 subsidy for 1 KW system, Rs. 60,000 for 2 KW systems and Rs. 78,000 for 3 KW systems or higher. Although people in the State are keen to switch to solar power, the uptake of rooftop solar systems was poor and this was primarily because of the high cost of installation–approximately Rs. 2 lakh for a 3-KW system and Rs. 5 lakh and more for a 6-KW system, said Ashok Kumar Goud.

“The solar installation programme was not catching up primarily due to delay in uploading of applications on the national portal and the delay in issuing technical feasibility approval by the Discoms in providing permissions. A large number of people are complaining about the attitude of the Discom officials. They are taking months together to clear an application. This is causing a lot of hardship to people. In fact it is discouraging people to shift to solar,”he added.

Though the union Ministry of Power has issued a gazette notification removing the power of Discoms to grant technical clearance up to a production capacity of up to 10 kWh, the State government has not started implementing it so far in the State leading to delay in getting approvals.

Already Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission has exempted rooftop systems with a capacity of upto 10 kw from getting technical feasibility study done, he pointed out, adding that TGERC should also allow it to expedite the installation of solar rooftop panels.

“Until the Discoms officials change their attitude, the solar rooftop programme will not pick up in the State,” Ashok Kumar warned.