Gandhinagar: In a record of sorts in promoting green-clean non-traditional sources of energy along with renewable sources of energy, Gujarat tops with receiveing 1,05,794 rooftop solar panel applications during the last five months, since the scheme was implemented on August 25, 2019, said Gujarat Energy minister Saurabh Patel.

He said that an online portal has been created for online filing of applications. The State Government has appointed Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited as the nodal agency for daily monitoring and recognised 459 agencies,to buy surplus power at the rate of Rs.2.25 per unit from the rooftop solar power producer, connecting the line to Electricity Grid. The same will be connected to the rural feeders for irrigation pumps. The method has been simplified while the target is to create capacity of 1,800 MW for rooftop solar panels.

Encouraged by the response, the government has extended the last date of filing applications during the current financial year from February 28 to March 15, 2020. The budget allocation for the scheme has been increased from Rs.610-crore in 2019-20 to Rs.912-crore in 2020-21.

The engineers of electricity distribution companies will fix the quality of the rooftop solar panels to ensure 75 per cent performance ration. The agencies will maintain the system for five years after the installation.

The nodal agency will ensure the solar cell and solar modules are made in India to encourage domestic production, as foreign makes have not been approved. The user can set up any solar system above 1KW DC capacity.

The subsidy for residential units will be 40% up to 3MW, 20% for 3-10M as per other conditions. There is no subsidy beyond 10MW. Those who intend to increase the current capacity at the same rate, subject to maximum 10MW.

The subsidy for group housing society (GHS) and residential welfare association (RWA) for setting up the system will be 20% for the society’s common facilities like lighting, waterworks, lifts, gyms, swimming pool, garden etc., and 10% per for electricity generation, subject to maximum 500 MW.