April 16, 2015: The Kolkata state government is all set to bring in effect a policy that will promote households and other buildings, both institutional and commercial, to install rooftop solar plants and do their part in cutting down carbon footprint.
Speaking to TOI, state power and non-conventional energy sources minister Manish Gupta said, “A draft document on net metering for grid interactive rooftop solar photo voltaic (SPV) power plants is ready and the policy is likely to be announced in June. Sources said the UK government had helped the state develop the solar scheme.”
Net metering is a billing process that pays owners of solar energy system for the electricity that they add to the grid. For example, if a residential customer has a photovoltaic system on his house’s rooftop, it may produce more electricity than the home actually uses. In case the home is net-metered, the electrical energy meter will run back to furnish a credit against what electricity is consumed during night or other time periods where the household’s electricity consumption surpasses the system’s yield. Customers are solely billed for net energy they use.
