KERC announces a revised tariff order for rooftop solar plants for domestic consumers

KERC has recently announced an order for the “revision of tariff in respect of new Solar Rooftop Photovoltaic Units of 1kW to 10kW capacity installed by domestic consumers”. The government of Karnataka has set a target of 2400 MW of grid-connected rooftop generation projects under its solar policy 2014-2021. As of August 2018, Karnataka’s installed capacity for both ground-mounted and rooftop solar capacity is 5179 MW. Out of the total installed capacity, only 145 MW is solar rooftop photovoltaic plants (SRTPV) units have been installed & commissioned. Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) the Commission had issued a Discussion Paper in the matter of revision of tariff in respect of new Solar Rooftop Photovoltaic Units of 1kW to 10kW capacity installed by domestic consumers, on 09.09.2018, inviting comments/suggestions from the stakeholders.
One of the reasons for the poor response for installation of rooftop solar photovoltaic plants by the domestic consumers may be the low Feed-In Tariff (FIT) fixed by the Commission as compared to the relatively higher capital cost of smaller capacity SRTPV units. Hence, the Commission was of the considered view that there is a need to promote smaller capacity solar rooftop power plants by the domestic consumers in order to achieve the desired capacity addition of SRTPV plants in the State.
Post the comments and suggestions, the commission has made some changes as below:

• The CUF is retained to be 19% % even for 1 kW to 10 kW capacity SRTPV Plants from the 16% CUF earlier.
• The capital cost for SRPTV plants of 1 kW to 10 kW is decided to be INR 48,000/kW.
• The generic tariff for grid-connected new Solar Rooftop Photovoltaic Units of 1kW to 10kW capacity installed by domestic consumers at INR.4.15 only per unit (without capital subsidy) and at INR.3.08 only per unit (with capital subsidy).
• The above-mentioned changes will be applicable to new plants with commissioning date on or after 19.12.2018.