Friday, July 04, 2014: Post the Lok Sabha elections, the demand for rooftop solar panels and efforts to provide subsidy by Tamil Nadu govt for the same is slowly picking up pace. According to TEDA (Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency), the demand slowed down during the election process but now it seems the applications are getting back on track.
20,000 subsidy provided by TEDA had been sanctioned for 151 kilowatt rooftop panels as of Wednesday and more sanctions are likely to be made in the coming days. This subsidy is a part of chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s drive to promote solar energy in the state of Tamil Nadu. The current subsidy of 20,000 is only available for the units tied to the grid, subsidy of 30 per cent by the ministry of new and renewable energy is available for all the solar plants installed.
A normal 1 kW solar rooftop plant costs around $1,675 and with the subsidy, it costs around $837. While most of the clients opt only for MNRE subsidy, people are now asking about TEDA scheme and linking themselves to that subsidy. The savings are very much substantial as single 1kW solar plant which is not connected to the grid is enough to power four fans, eight light bulbs and a TV for a whole day and 3 to 4 hours of energy is stored in batteries after the sunset. A grid plant is expected to generate 1,600 units a year-where units are passed into the grid by the plant and deducted from the energy bill of the user.
