Solar Roofs ? Why
not ?
------------------------------
Government is planning to make available 55 lakh “
Affordable Houses “ to India’s poor families by 2022
It has also launched “ Saubhgya “ Yojana under which ,
it plans to provide “ Free Electric Connections “ ( not “ free
electricity “ ) , to 4 crore poor families
But , why stop at only “ Free connection “
? Why not “ free electric supply “ as
well ?
And why even wait for those 55 lakh houses to first
get ready and then provide free connection ?
Why not design ( or mandate – if those houses are
going to be built by private builders ), those 55 lakh houses with a “ pre-installed “ Solar Panel on their roofs , to start
with ?
That would eliminate later on “ connection “ and also
guarantee FREE ELECTRICITY from the
day occupied ! Poor people deserve this !
And if Australian Government can do this , why cannot
we ?
Here is a trend-setting example :
Some
50,000 homes in South Australia will receive solar panels and Tesla batteries,
the state government announced Sunday, in a landmark plan to turn houses into a
giant, interconnected power plant.
Under a
new plan unveiled on Sunday, a network
of solar panels linked to rechargeable batteries will be provided free to households and financed by the sale of
excess electricity generated by the network, the government said.
It
seems the Australian Government got to read my following blog ( sent as email
to our own Policy Makers on 03 Jan
2017 ) :
=======================================================
Why
install small solar power plants on roof tops ?
Simple
:
With
roof-top based solar plants , we don't need to distribute power over long
distances , using nation-wide distribution network. We produce / store /
consume power in same place
So
no transmission costs / losses / thefts !
There
are no " intermediaries " between producers and consumers ( eg:
DISCOMS )
No
need of elaborate " metering / billing / accounting "
No
need for PPA ( Power Purchase Agreements ) between producers and DISCOMs
A
roof top solar installation can be done in a matter of hours, providing
employment to lakhs of Installation Technicians, employed by thousands of MSME
engaged in such work
Many
more lakhs will find jobs in companies engaged in manufacture of allied
electrical / electronic / storage batteries etc
So
enormous " Job Generation " as a by-product
These
local MSME manufacturers / installers , will aggressively compete and provide
quick / efficient , after-sales service
Of
course , roof top solar power's Capital Cost per kwh is higher than same for
large land based installations . Over the next couple of years, this will even
out
But
as I mentioned in my earlier blog :
* COST OF FUEL ( Sun ) is ZERO
*
COST OF MAINTENANCE , too , is nearly NIL
Practically
, the only cost of a roof top based solar plant is " INTEREST ON CAPITAL "
Now
NDA government has announced a Capital Subsidy of 30 % on
" Competitively Discovered Price " for roof top installations and
made an allocation of ( approx ) , Rs 5200 crores ( $ 750 million ), for
putting up 4200 MW
But
, on the balance 70 % of Capital Cost , users will need
to borrow money from banks at 10
% - 15 % interest and go through a lengthy
approval process and hypothecate the assets
And
ensure timely repayment of EMI in order, not to get their plants "
repossessed " !
But
imagine following scenario :
* Government declares units belonging to
" Solar Power ( Panel Mfr / Power Production &
Distribution / Ancillary Mfr ) " as a
" SOS " industry
*
Units will need to register as such with Department of Company
Affairs ( DIPP )
*
Units will be exempt from paying Corporate Income Tax for 10 years , on whatever
income they earn ( only those starting operations latest by 31 March 2018 )
*
No questions will be asked as to the " source " of funds invested in
the shares of such
units ( a kind of Temporary Amnesty Scheme -
01 April 2017 till 31 March 2018 - to
channelize BLACK MONEY into creation of PRODUCTIVE / NON-POLUTING assets
)
*
Units cannot engage in any other Industrial / Commercial / Financial activities
*
Units cannot declare any dividends to share-holders for 10 years
These
are just broad outlines and details need to be worked out
If
there is political courage to pull off such an initiative , government will NOT
need to allocate ANY AMOUNT !
NO
NEED TO SUBSIDIZE THESE UNITS OR THE USERS , WITH THE TAX PAYERS' MONEY !
Instead
of that $ 750 million allocation ( from tax payers' money ) , Black Money
holders will readily pump in $
750 BILLION into the SOLAR INDUSTRY ( enough for additional installed capacity
of 750 GW - as against our current installed
capacity 8.63 GW of solar , and a target of 100 GW , by 2022 !
)
Remember
, how , only a few months back , tiny Indonesia managed
to collect $ 300 billion of its Black Money , by levying tax ( no penalty ) of just 4 % !
And
with this kind of INCENTIVE WINDOW ( to convert BLACK into WHITE ) ,
expect
*
Hundreds of SOS Units to spring up before 31 March 2018
*
They will have ZERO cost as far as servicing of EQUITY is concerned ! No
dividends !
*
They will not need to borrow funds from banks and pay interest ( no danger of
NPA ! )
*
They will say : We are not in the business of " manufacturing of panels
" but we are in
the business of " Delivering electric power to homes / businesses "
*
They will compete with each other fiercely and ( as it is already happening in
USA ) ,
start offering roof top installations, absolutely FREE, and
selling the generated power at
20 paise/Kwh, for 10 year purchase agreement and with a 5 % tariff reduction per year !
We can look forward to witnessing similar competition among large , land-based
, solar
power installations which will be the main suppliers to large commercial
establishments /
industrial factories / infrastructure projects / Electric Vehicle Charging
stations , etc
Just
imagine
*
how much, our LOW
ENERGY COST ECONOMY can make us
, INTERNATIONALLY
COMPETITIVE !
*
the rise in GDP !
*
the possibility of being able to export our surplus power to neighbouring
countries
*
Being able to replace 6 million petrol / diesel vehicles with EVs by 2020 , due to
easily available charging
stations on every street corner
*
Reduction in pollution by shutting
down of hundreds of existing fossil
fuel based power
plants , whose utilization will drop below 10 %
by 2022 ( as against National Electricity
Plan expectation of 48 % , and a un-viability threshold
of 55 % )
I
hope my suggestion will be supported by Shri Piyush Goyal ( Minister for Energy ) , who
referring to " innovative
financing such as reverse bidding for
projects as a smart way of saving
public money " , said :
"
By adopting such principles, I have been able to reignite the power and coal
sector "
(
Source : Business Line / 19 Dec 2016 )
Dear Piyushbhai :
By
" harnessing GREED to harness SUN
" , we could achieve 100
GW of Solar by 2019 , instead of
government target of 2022
I
hope you succeed in persuading Arunbhai , to incorporate this proposal in his
forthcoming budget speech on 01 Feb 2017
Unless
, Narendrabhai decides to announce this as a Republic Day gift to the Nation !
07 Feb 2018
www.hemenparekh.in
/ blogs
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