After Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand has now announced that the residents of the state can avail the net-metering facility, if they install solar panels in their rooftops. This scheme is available for homes and commercial organizations for solar projects with a capacity of up to 500 kW (100 kW with battery).
MNRE has already announced a subsidy of 30% for the capital expenditure involved in setting up rooftop solar power plants. This subsidy will be availed by registered resellers/installers they need to pass on the benefit to the customers.
Adding to the above mentioned central government subsidy, state governments have come forward to offer their own schemes in order to encourage residents to install solar power systems on their rooftops and generate their own electricity.
The net-metering technology (now supported by A.P and Uttarakhand state governments) enables customers to install solar panels, use whatever power is generated by the solar panels for themselves and export the excess power generated. Usually (with off-grid solar plants), customers need to buy expensive (and limited life) batteries to store power, but with net-metering, they can avoid buying batteries or just buy a small battery (recommended) with limited backup capacity (like 1 hour, for emergency usage - during power-cuts in the nights, for example).
When customers export the power, electricity board/DISCOMs pay the customers for every unit of power they export, according to the tariff mentioned here. It is not sure how long they will continue to pay that rate for every unit of power generated, but I guess they'll pay some amount for the electricity exported by the customer and this feed in tariff will be decided by UREDA (Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency).
Customers need to install special smart meters/two-way meters to ensure that the electricity exported is measured and adjusted against their bills (or) they are paid for the generated electricity. They may also need to install special protection devices to prevent solar power from being exported during power-cuts, as it may affect the linemen working on the poles in the road.
The scheme announced by the Uttarakhand government will target 5 MW of solar power capacity (max) and according to their document, it will be on a first come first served basis. For smaller capacities up to 4 kW(in case of homes), just a single-phase low voltage electric connection will suffice. By the way, 1 kW solar panel system should generate around 4-5 units of power every day (on normal bright sunny days). Based on this information and the cost of solar panels quoted/feed-in tariff rate, you can calculate your returns.
But more than the monetary aspect, you are generating green power and contributing your part to the environment - In my opinion, this should be the biggest criterion.
There is an application form along with all the necessary details, which can be downloaded from here, filled and submitted (along with all the required details and application fee) to UREDA, Dehradun in case anyone wants to avail this scheme.
For more details, refer to the UREDA website.
