Over the past 4 years, India’s rooftop solar sector has rapidly grown to reach a cumulative capacity of 3.4 GW as of November 2019. However, recently, a few Electricity Regulatory Commissions issued notifications to discontinue net-metering for all non-residential consumers, citing a revenue loss. There is a possibility that this status quo stems from an information gap about the overall impact of rooftop solar on discom revenues. Currently, discoms only recognise the revenue loss as consumers shift from grid to solar, while completely discounting benefits like peak reduction, meeting Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) targets, and reduced transmission and distribution losses.

The webinar will address this issue by introducing a new framework – Valuing Grid-connected Rooftop Solar (VGRS). The framework assesses the net impact of rooftop solar on discom revenues by considering various costs and benefits. The webinar will deliberate on the relevance of the VGRS framework in planning future deployments and reducing revenue impact. We will also discuss a case study on BSES Rajdhani Power Limited, a Delhi-based discom.