Thinking solar? Start here.
We’ve been hearing about rooftop solar. We know it’s a good thing. But we know a little less about it being the smart thing. Let me help you understand how reaching out to the sun is one of the smartest decisions you will take today.
Tap into the power of the sun from your own rooftop and you not only save those big bucks, but also do your bit for the environment. Solar power is free. Once you install the system — after recovering the installation cost, you pay nothing for electricity. Solar power is also green and clean energy — which means not using coal for electricity, thereby reducing the carbon footprint.
Now if that’s not a win-win, what will be? Then what is stopping us from going for it? The answer — high initial cost.
Say ‘rooftop solar’ and the first thing that we hear is ‘expensive’, ‘high maintenance’, and ‘complex technology’. We, however, couldn’t be more distant from the reality. Rooftop solar today is a cost effective, efficient, simple, and low maintenance technology that you can adopt and breathe easy about those huge electricity bills for the next 25 years.
Cost effective
Let’s evaluate how it’s an ‘easy on pocket’ technology learning from an example of a rooftop solar system that we installed at Raji Cooperative Housing Society (CHS) in Ghatkopar.
We installed a 68-panel rooftop solar power plant across 2200 sq ft rooftop area. The plant generates 31,500 kilowatts an hour (kWh) of electricity annually or 86 kWh electricity daily covering the electricity consumed by lights across all the common areas including the lobby, staircases, streetlights, lifts as well as for the water pumps.
For comparison, a two-bedroom apartment in Mumbai needs 8kWh of power daily. With a capacity of 22.71 kilowatt power (kWp), the plant can supply all the electricity the society needs in a year. (*source: link)
The society spent ₹12.5 lakhs for the installation of the project. Now you would imagine that to be a high price to pay but here’s the catch — it’s a onetime cost. Once installed, the rooftop solar PV system lasts for 25 years. The rooftop solar PV system at the society covers 100% of their electricity usage which means they don’t have to pay for their annual electricity consumption anymore. The society saved ₹4.24 lakhs a year. As the central government had provided a subsidy of ₹2,95,000; thus amount is deducted from the final cost of the project.
The society expects to recover this amount by 2022. Though rooftop solar projects come with an initial investment that could be a bit high, you can expect huge savings in the long run. The advantage will reflect every month in the society’s reduced electricity bills.
Simple
So what makes it all so simple? The answer is ‘net metering policy’ — another name for on-grid rooftop solar PV system. You connect the PV system to your existing electricity connection that’s coming to you from your electricity service provider. Rooftop PV plant generates electricity as per the system capacity. Whatever electricity gets generated gets used up for your requirements. If it generates more than you need, it goes back into the grid. If it generates less than your needs, electricity is consumed from the grid. At the end of the year, you pay only for the net usage. i.e. electricity generated minus electricity used.
Low maintenance
Solar panels are used in space projects, once the satellite goes up in space it won’t return back to earth before decades. And no one does any maintenance work for those solar panels. You get the idea, right? It’s the same with the panels used for your rooftop. Space technology is being used on your rooftop and has made using the sun’s energy possible for one and all.
Good for environment
The rooftop solar plant will prevent 28.89 tons of CO2 from being released into the air annually. Also, it is equivalent to planting 1070 teak trees over the life time. (*source: link)
By adopting tapping into rooftop solar energy is a step you take for a better, greener future. For more insightful conversations, get in touch with us: www.avishaktisolar.com. You can refer to the FAQs on here for information on rooftop solar installations in India.
*Thoughts expressed in this article are author’s own and subject to copyright.
