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Chandigarh residents to get six more months to install rooftop solar panels
Panels are mandatory in houses sized 500 square yards and up
With the September 30 deadline to install rooftop solar panels approaching fast, the UT administration has decided to give city residents six more months to comply with their mandatory installation.
“Administration will be extending the deadline for installation of solar panels by six months,” said Manoj Kumar Parida, UT adviser.
In 2016, the UT administration had mandated the installation of rooftop solar panels on new properties measuring 500 square yards and above and on group housing societies. For older houses, the last date was set as June 30, which was later extended to September 30.
While the panels have been installed in around 1,500 houses, the process is underway at another 4,800 houses. In all, the panels are mandatory in 7,400 houses.
With a target of 69 mega watt (MW) power to be produced by 2022, the city currently produces around 30 MW from solar panels installed in both residential and government buildings. In the residential segment, around 12 MW is being currently produced using solar power.
Ahead of the deadline, residents had complained of discrepancies in installation of solar panels. They had contended problems in installation due to frequent changes in rules and delay in inspections by CREST (Chandigarh Renewal Energy and Science and Technology Promotion Society).
Others had complained of delay in subsidy from the central government, which is 40% for panels up to 3 kilowatt (kW). Therefore, CREST decided to transfer the subsidy directly into the account of the solar power company installing these panels.
In addition to selling the surplus power generated in this houses to the electricity department via adjustments in the electricity bills in the net metering system, residents can also install power panels totally dedicated to selling all power to the electricity department. The latter are called gross metering systems.
