So, you have installed the best suitable solar panel as per your requirement. All your appliances now run on clean, efficient solar power and your regular rooftop has now turned into a solar power plant. The Solar panels now not only generate sufficient electricity for your use but also surplus remains unconsumed. What if you could be compensated for this surplus power that has been created? Fortunately, this is possible and can be achieved by Net Metering, which can prove to be highly beneficial and can reduce your bill by a considerable margin.
What is Net Metering?
Net Energy Metering (NEM) or simply, Net metering is the concept that has been put in place to achieve a solution for the surplus power that is produced by solar panels. To elaborate, Net Counting allows the producers of Solar Power to add surplus power to the state’s power grid. For this contribution, they are given some credits by the electricity board of the area and these credits are then adjusted in the electricity bill of the user.
Thus, the users only pay for the ‘net’ electricity. The prerequisite, however, is to have an on-grid system that is connected to the grid. Off-grid systems are isolated systems that are not connected to the grid. In cases when the capacity requirements are not met by the power produced by solar panels, on-grid systems borrow power from the grid.
Similarly, in cases of surplus production, the unused power automatically goes to the grid, which the consumer then receives credits for. And as stated above, these credits allow them concessions at the time of billing.
Net metering is any day as good an option as Solar batteries, if not better. Being connected to the grid has a number of advantages. For instance, an off-grid system requires batteries to store the surplus energy, whereas, in the case of an on-grid system, the need for additional batteries is replaced by a meter. This is more affordable and practical as you save the effort put in maintaining batteries.
For understanding net metering, we need some components. The components required for net counting are solar modules and inverter. The solar modules produce power and inverters work by converting DC power to conventional AC power, which conventional grids run on. Both the components do not require extensive maintenance.
Policies of Different States for Net Metering
In India, the concept of Net Metering has made the use of renewable power more affordable and accessible. However, it must be noted that although almost every state provides the facility of Net Metering, the laws differ from state to state.
According to the latest guidelines of the Power Ministry, only the Solar Panel Systems that fall under 10 kilowatts (kW) are eligible for net-metering. Systems of 10 kW or more are liable for gross metering.
For the uninformed, Gross metering implies that the energy produced through solar panels gets injected directly into the grid and the consumer then receives energy from the grid. The method of compensation is different in this case. Concessions are made as per the Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) rate, which may vary from one state to another.
Haryana
The Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (HAREDA) is responsible for promoting clean Solar energy in the state. According to the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (Rooftop Solar Grid Interactive Systems Based on Net Metering) Regulations, 2019, the distributor companies (DISCOMs) in Haryana are obliged to provide net metering up to the capacity of 500MW, starting from 200 MW.
Gujarat
After the announcement of the new Gujarat Solar Power Policy 2021, it is evident that the state government intends to nudge the MSMEs in the direction of Solar power. The state levies a banking surcharge of ₹1.50/kWh for high-tension and demand-based low-tension consumption, and ₹1.10/kWh for regular consumption. Residential consumers and government buildings have been exempted from this surcharge.
Maharashtra
The present MERC (Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission) guidelines on net metering are in effect since 2019. The guidelines allow the eligible consumers to get a net metering arrangement on a ‘first come, first serve’ basis. This ensures the much-required transparency in the process.
West Bengal
Only until a few years ago, West Bengal had altogether kept residential properties out of the purview of net metering, the West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission (WBERC) recently rectified this by allowing net metering for households up to a capacity of 5 kW, starting from a lower limit of 1 kW. Gross metering is applicable for households with a capacity exceeding 5 kW.
Conclusion
Furthermore, applying for net metering today in India is not half as tedious as it used to be. It involves the application, technical feasibility assessment, and some documentation. Following this, your conventional one-directional meter is replaced by a bi-directional meter required for net metering.
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