When Sandeep Mall, an entrepreneur and wellness coach, acquired his electrical energy invoice for the height summer season months of June and July 2024, he wasn’t shocked to seek out that he needed to pay simply Rs 12.69 though he lives in a house measuring over 10,000 sq ft with 12 residents.
“I dwell in Faridabad in a joint household with 4 generations, together with my dad and mom, below one roof. On an expert degree, I’m an entrepreneur and my firm is into manufacturing precision engineering merchandise for worldwide markets,” he tells The Higher India.
Due to 25 KW photo voltaic two month electrical energy invoice of a 10000+ sq ft. 6 bed room home in summer season, which homes 12 folks. pic.twitter.com/haReMeBM1U— Sandeep Mall (@SandeepMall) July 28, 2024
On X (previously Twitter), he posted the SMS detailing the Rs 12.69 electrical energy invoice he acquired from the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), the state-owned energy distribution utility firm, and spoke of how putting in a 25 kilowatt (kW) rooftop photo voltaic energy system helped him on this regard.
In a dialog with The Higher India, Sandeep explains how he achieved these financial savings regardless of using a number of air conditioners at his Faridabad residence.
Expertise with electrical energy payments earlier than going photo voltaic
“Since we’re a big household dwelling in an enormous home, we have now an influence connection supplying round 25 to 30 kW of electrical energy at dwelling. Our electrical energy invoice would differ season to season, however in the summertime, it will come as much as round Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 in June and July,” he says.
“And in the course of the winter season, our two-month electrical energy invoice would drop to roughly Rs 10,000,” he provides. Aside from 4 cities, Haryana follows a system of clubbing payments of two months.
“We determined to go photo voltaic about 4 years again and initially put in a ten kW rooftop photo voltaic system to attempt it out. Haryana has applied a internet metering system, which implies that no matter electrical energy I don’t use [generated by my solar system], I promote it again to the grid,” he explains.
“The ultimate electrical energy invoice I pay is the web distinction between the ability I eat [from conventional sources, not solar] and the ability I promote again to the grid. In order that’s the place we began with a ten kW photo voltaic connection initially after which we noticed an excellent profit right here,” he says.
To grasp what internet metering means, right here’s an explainer by Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Restricted (UHBVNL), which is one other state-owned energy distribution firm. “Within the Internet Metering association, a rooftop photo voltaic system is put in at client premises, which delivers solar energy concurrently with the ability provided by the Discom,” it notes.
“On this system, the ability generated by way of photo voltaic rooftop association offsets the ability imported by the buyer from the Discom. Accordingly, customers obtain a internet import/export invoice from the Discom as per the web consumption,” it states.
There are two meters on this configuration: the photo voltaic power meter, which measures the solar energy generated, and bidirectional power meter, which measures the export and import of power from/to the buyer’s premises.
Ultimately, what the buyer receives is a internet electrical energy bull indicating both a internet export to the principle grid or a internet import from the grid. So, the buyer finally ends up paying (or not paying) the distinction between the electrical energy consumed from the discom and the electrical energy generated by the solar energy system that’s despatched again to the grid.
“No matter electrical energy my photo voltaic panels produce is being offered again to the DHBVN. One among their workers comes to notice down readings on two electrical meters put in at dwelling,” he says.
As soon as Sandeep noticed the advantage of putting in the ten kW rooftop photo voltaic system, he determined to put in an extra 15 kW to fulfil his family’s wants a few yr in the past. “At the moment, we have now a 25 kW rooftop photo voltaic connection at dwelling. This summer season we loved the advantage of putting in such a system at dwelling with our complete electrical energy invoice over two peak summer season months (June and July) coming to lower than Rs 13 from the standard summertime invoice of Rs 50,000,” he provides.
The choice to put in a rooftop photo voltaic system was basically impressed by escalating energy payments.
“Additionally, photo voltaic was the in-thing, and loads of our family and friends have been putting in it. Since we have been already incurring such giant electrical energy payments, we determined to attempt it out though the capital value of putting in it on the time was fairly costly than what it’s at the moment. That’s why we initially put in a ten kW system earlier than embarking on putting in one other 15 kW,” he explains.
Understanding the prices of putting in
The rooftop solar energy unit Sandeep arrange got here from Tata Energy and so they helped him set it up. “It value me round Rs 60,000 per kW to put in our first 10 kW system. Nonetheless, the capital value of putting in such a system has decreased considerably, whereas the standard and energy output of the panels that I put in within the second section have additionally improved. Once I put in the second section of my rooftop solar energy system, it value me round Rs 45,000 per kW,” claims Sandeep.
Earlier than putting in the photo voltaic panels, there was some minor building work that wanted to be executed at his residence like organising the inspiration. “As soon as the panels we ordered got here from their [Tata Power] manufacturing facility, it hardly took two days to put in it. The corporate additionally helped with all of the formalities and permissions documentation required by the state electrical energy board. We confronted no hassles in putting in this plug-and-play rooftop photo voltaic system,” he recollects.
So, how a lot does it value to take care of the solar energy system? Most of the points surrounding the price of putting in photo voltaic include upkeep and after-sales service. However, as Sandeep explains, there are two methods to strategy putting in a rooftop photo voltaic system:
1) Folks retailer the ability they generate from their rooftop photo voltaic system in a battery storage system and use that [power] to run their dwelling. Sustaining and managing that battery storage system is dear as a result of you must change batteries each few years and area is required for it. In that case, what occurs is that neither you (the buyer) are shopping for the ability nor are you promoting it. In different phrases, no matter energy you generate, you’re saving it in your battery storage system like an inverter does, after which utilizing it to run electrical home equipment at dwelling.
2) The second strategy is the one he has taken, i.e. using internet metering.
“Previously 4 years, I’ve not incurred any upkeep value or known as for exterior assist. We’ve arrange cleansing showers on the rooftop. We manually activate the faucet, and these showers clear all of the mud collected on these panels. This collected mud reduces the output that your panel is able to producing. Within the NCR area, mud air pollution ranges are excessive, and our panels want frequent cleansing. We deploy these cleansing showers each three days,” he says.
So is there a plan quickly to ultimately make that transition to rely on solar energy and power to run your home equipment?
“No, as I defined earlier, there are recurring prices concerned with managing the battery storage system. Greater than that, nonetheless, loads of time can be required to service these batteries and guarantee all the pieces runs easily, which I don’t have,” he says.
Having stated that, many have raised considerations concerning the capital expenditure (capex) that’s required to set it up and working. Did he avail of any authorities subsidy to set this up?
“With the primary section we put in, the photo voltaic panel installers took the duty of buying the subsidy from the federal government that helped us cowl a number of the value of putting in it. At the moment, nonetheless, you’ve got a wide range of subsidy and low-interest mortgage schemes that will help you pay the price of buying and putting in a rooftop photo voltaic system. Every state has its schemes to incentivise residents and corporations into putting in their rooftop photo voltaic system,” he explains.
What’s extra, Sandeep argues that there’s a actual return on funding.
“I invested between Rs 12 lakh to Rs 13 lakh on putting in the 25 kW system [given that I spent on average Rs 50,000 per kilowatt to install it]. My annual financial savings in electrical energy payments is roughly Rs 3 lakh to Rs 4 lakh. So, within the subsequent two to a few years, I’ll get better the price of the funding I made into putting in this method. From the fourth yr [since installing the system] onwards, it’s plain crusing and there’s a 25-year guarantee hooked up to my system,” he provides.
(Edited by Padmashree Pande; Pictures courtesy Sandeep Mall)
