Transforming the Solar Rooftop Market in India

Overview

The PACE-D TA Program initially focused on three

focal states (Rajasthan, Karnataka and Madhya

Pradesh) to build the institutional capacity of SNAs,

utilities and other stakeholders. The Program has

now scaled up its solar PV rooftop interventions to

eight new states: Andhra Pradesh, Assam,

Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab, Telangana, Uttar

Pradesh and West Bengal. Activities under the

scale up phase include design and development of

a streamlined interconnection framework for

consumers to implement grid-connected solar

rooftop projects, best practices for administering

solar rooftop for policy makers, regulators and

utilities. The focus is also on design and

development of new and innovative business

models, tools and applications for streamlining the

solar rooftop development process and

preparation of outreach and awareness plans for

states.

Scale-up in Eight New States

India’s solar PV rooftop market is at an inflection

point. While development is gathering speed, the

market requires a strong ecosystem to unlock its

vast potential and meet the Government of India

(GOI) target of 40 GW by 2022.

The United States Agency for International

Development (USAID), through its Partnership to

Advance Clean Energy – Deployment Technical

Assistance (PACE-D TA) Program, is working in

collaboration with the Ministry of New and

Renewable Energy, state nodal agencies (SNAs),

utilities, banks and financial institutions to develop

a number of key building blocks of the solar PV

rooftop market ecosystem. The Program has

aligned its core renewable energy activities with

the GOI’s objectives and is working on a set of

interrelated interventions such as enabling policy

and regulatory frameworks, programmatic

approaches, innovative business models,

evaluation tools, and training of stakeholders that

will help accelerate the deployment of solar PV

rooftop in India.

The PACE-D TA Program’s assistance to 11 STATES is supporting nearly

25.7 GW of the 40 GW national solar rooftop target to be achieved by FY 2021-22.

Regulations

• Assistance to the

Energy Department

and state distribution

utilities of Rajasthan to

develop a petition for

Net Metering

Regulations.

• Inputs to the

Government of West

Bengal on the

regulatory framework

for solar PV rooftop.

• White Paper on Gross

Metering Framework

on

Solar Rooftop in

Karnataka.

• Draft white paper on

Best Practices in

Business Models and

Regulations on Solar

Rooftop for Haryana

Electricity Regulatory

Commission.

Interconnection Framework

• Technical assistance

to utilities of 11 focal

states to develop and

deploy a framework

for solar PV rooftop

projects to

interconnect with the

utility grid.

• Tripartite agreement

for third-party solar PV

rooftop deployment

for Bangalore

Electricity Supply

Company in

Karnataka.

Policy

• Support to the

Government of

Madhya Pradesh on

the design and

development of its

Rooftop Policy 2016.

• Support to the

Government of

Karnataka for the

development of its

Solar Policy 2014.

• Inputs on the solar

policy for the states of

Assam, West Bengal

and Uttar Pradesh.

• White papers for West

Bengal and a report on

state incentive

structure for solar for

Assam.

Support to State Nodal Agencies

• Vendor manual

detailing

empanelment,

tendering and after

sales support for

Madhya Pradesh.

• Design of a city-wide 5

MW Solar PV Rooftop

Program in Rajasthan.

Assistance to Public Sector Undertakings

• Assistance to two of

India's largest public

sector

undertakings—Indian

Oil Corporation Ltd.

and Indian Railways

—to design and

develop programs for

solar PV rooftop. This

includes preparing

model documents for

procuring and

contracting.

TrainingInitiatives

• Capacity building

of utilities, entrepreneurs

and banks to design,

implement, operate,

finance and monitor

solar PV rooftop

projects.

• Best practices guide

covering policy,

regulation, business

models, and

permitting and

administration of solar

PV rooftop systems in

India.

FinancialAppraisal Tool

• Evaluation tool for

financial institutions to

assess solar PV rooftop

projects.

• Customized rating

framework for the

Indian Renewable

Energy Development

Agency Ltd. (IREDA).

BusinessModels

• Assistance to BSES

Delhi to assess utility-

based business models

for solar rooftop

projects.

The PACE-D TA Program’s assistance to 11 STATES is supporting nearly

25.7 GW of the 40 GW national solar rooftop target to be achieved by FY 2021-22.

Trainings Delivered (as on Nov 28, 2017)

UtilityEngineers

20 trainings 9 states19 utilities 916 engineers

Training ofTrainers:Banks

2 trainings 2 banks63 trainers

Training of Trainers: Utility Engineers

4 trainings101 trainers

Indian Oil 3 MW installed2.5 MW under implementation

Indian Railways 79 MW work in progress 63 MW tendered

Scaling up Solar PV Rooftop Deployment

The Program's interventions to address challenges of large-scale adoption of solar PV rooftop have

established a strong foundation for the uptake of the sector. The interventions have simplified the process

of developing, deploying, monitoring and financing solar PV rooftop projects, and facilitated deployment

across India.

5 trainings 203 entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs

MadhyaPradesh

5 MWwork in

progress

Karnataka

63 MWinstalled

Focal States

Rajasthan

30 MWinstalled

Training of Bank Officials

1 training 1 bank45 trainees

Building a Skilled Workforce

To achieve India’s 40 GW solar rooftop target, it is critical to have a solar skilled workforce that can

effectively design, develop, finance, implement and monitor solar PV rooftop projects. The PACE-D TA

Program is working with the National Institute of Solar Energy and the Skill Council for Green Jobs to offer a

standard set of solar training curricula for utilities, entrepreneurs and banks. In addition to several training

programs for stakeholders, the Program has also organized “training of trainers” for banks and utilities

which will help scale up training of solar PV rooftop within the stakeholder organizations.

As on Sept 2017

Anurag MishraSenior Clean Energy SpecialistUSAID/IndiaEmail: amishra@usaid.gov

About the USAID PACE-D TA Program

The USAID PACE-D TA Program is a part of the overall Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE)

initiative, the flagship program under the U.S.-India Energy Dialogue. The six year program is being

implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Power and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. In

the first five years, the Program focused on three key components: energy efficiency, renewable

energy and cleaner fossil technologies, with the overall aim of accelerating the deployment of clean

energy, expanding U.S.-India trade and investment linkages, and facilitating knowledge exchange.

The Program's focus in the sixth year is largely on accelerating solar rooftop deployment across eight

states: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West

Bengal. The Program is working with a range of stakeholders in these states to build and strengthen the

institutional capacity of respective state distribution utilities and state nodal agencies to design, deploy

and monitor solar rooftop programs. The Program is also assisting state electricity regulatory

commissions in these focus states to design an enabling regulatory environment for faster uptake of

solar rooftop.

www.facebook.com/PACEDTAProgram twitter.com/PACE_DTAProgramwww.pace-d.com

November 2017This brochure is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this brochure are the sole responsibility of Nexant Inc. and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. This brochure was prepared under Contract Number AID-386-C-12-00001.