Kerala drafts regulation for net-metering of small solar projects
Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (KSERC) recently unveiled its draft copy of “KSERC – Grid Interactive Distributed Solar Energy Systems, Regulations, 2014” (refer). With this Kerala joins the league of states namely; Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab and Uttarakhand, which have a similar policy in their respective states. The highlights of the regulation are as under:
Eligibility – All consumers are eligible to install solar energy systems, either self-owned or that owned by a third party.
The maximum capacity of solar energy systems shall be capped at 3 MW and should be in conformity with Kerala Electricity Supply Code’14.
Cumulative capacity of all solar energy systems within a particular area shall be limited to 50% of local transformer capacity. If the cumulative capacity limit exceeds the above limit, licensee is obligated to replace the existing transformer with a higher capacity transformer within 2 months.
Banking facility – Discoms are obligated to provide banking facility to eligible consumers only upto a target capacity of solar RPO. Eligible consumers not in ToD regime is allowed to use the same regardless of any specific period.
Licensee shall provide net-metering arrangement to consumers, and consumer shall be liable to pay security deposit & rent as per norms determined by KSERC.
A consumer can supply excess power to any other self owned premise located anywhere, within the same distribution area, provided wheeling charges of 5% are paid for wheeling of power.
The consumer will receive payment for excess generation of solar power injected in distribution network at APPC (1.99 Rs. per unit).
If an eligible consumer happens to be an obligated entity as per relevant RPO regulations, then the energy consumed by the consumer will be accounted towards solar RPO.
There shall be no banking or cross subsidy charges applicable on any eligible consumer.
A summary of such policies across other with main points can be read in the table below:
