Madhya Pradesh Discom Holds Rooftop Solar Awareness Camps

Madhya Kshetra Vidyut Vitaran Company Limited, (MKVVCL) is organizing 5 days camps to raise awareness about subsidized rooftop solar installation.

The camps began on November 1st and were held at the Discom offices.

Sources claim that solar connections come not only at subsidised rates but also include net metering facilities for consumers. Net metering allows consumers to sell and produce power from discoms. This policy is intended to encourage green power use and reduce power bills. The net metering system allows individuals to generate non-conventional power and then use it in their buildings. Any excess power is then fed back into the grid. The consumer is paid back in energy credits and adjustments to bills for surplus power transferred to grid. They are not required to pay for the power generated through solar rooftop system.

Bi-directional meters must be installed in the home of each consumer to enable this facility. Sources said that these meters do not only record power consumed, but also power sold or received by the system’s users.

Recently, the ministry has extended Phase II of its ‘Grid-Connected Rooftop Solar Program’ to March 31, 2026.

The program was extended without additional expenditures of Rs. Rs. 11,814 Crore for both – the residential segment (Component A) and the distribution companies (Component B), as approved.

However, after achieving the target, savings from the Central Financial Assistance (CFA), or incentives to distribution companies (DISCOMs), must be used to support additional residential capacity.

The Ministry has launched the Rooftop Solar Programme Phase-II for which the guidelines were issued in August 2019. Under this Programme 4000 MW rooftop solar (RTS) capacity addition was targeted through Central Financial Assistance (CFA) in residential sector including for households in rural areas.

Last year MNRE has amended the guidelines for Phase II of the rooftop solar project. The Ministry has amended the guidelines to state that the implementing agent should allocate a minimum 10% of the total amount to the lowest bidder. The bank guarantee will be forfeited if the vendor fails to execute the allotted quantity. This will result in the vendor being blacklisted for five year.

MNRE has also issued clarification on applicability of Central Financial Assistance (CFA) available under Rooftop Solar (RTS) Programme Phase-II for solar systems installed under Virtual Net Metering (VNM) arrangement.

Further, to facilitate the installation of solar plants under VNM arrangement the ministry has prepared a Concept Note covering some of the possible business models including CAPEX, RESCO and Utility operated model.