Draft MERC rooftop regulations : A quick Summary

1. The newly proposed draft talks about net metering for the residential sector ONLY while all other rooftop solar installations will come under "net billing".
2. Net Metering : This is applicable only for first 300 units of power generated from a rooftop solar system in that billing period. The first 300 units will be set off against the energy consumed, while any generation in excess of 300 units will be bought by the DISCOM in the same billing period at agreed solar tariffs. So technically we cannot install more than a 2 KW system to take advantage of the net metering arrangement for residential applications. The maximum capacity that can be installed will be the minimum of contract demand/ sanctioned load/ 1 MW ( whichever is lower)
3. Net Billing : The entire energy generated by the solar power plant will be bought by the DISCOM at a pre determined tariff and the credits will be offered in the bill raised at the end of the billing cycle. There is no offset against the consumption. The economics for Commercial & Industrial segment will suffer if this is introduced.

The capacity limit of 1 MW does not apply in net billing.

1. The agreements for net billing/ net metering will be for 20 years.
2. The renewable energy system should have anti-islanding feature to prevent any back feeding into the grid in case of power failure.
3. The renewable energy systems can be designed with or without battery banks