Chandigarh Administration does away with electrical inspection up to 250 kWp solar plants

Chandigarh, December 10

To achieve the target of 69 megawatt (MW) solar power generation, the UT Administration has decided not to conduct electrical inspection for installation of solar plants up to 250 kWp. The decision was taken in a review meeting chaired by UT Adviser Manoj Parida with head of various departments.

The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had recently increased the target from 50 MW to 69 MW to be achieved by 2022.

Debendra Dalai, Director, Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST), said there would now be no electrical inspection for installation of all solar plants, including residential category, up to 250 kWp. Moreover, the Electrical Department would submit a technical feasibility report within a week so that installation of solar plants could be expedited.

The decision was taken to cut delay in the installation of solar plants as generally inspections used to take nearly three months to complete. The UT has so far installed solar plants of 37.5 MW in the city.

The Central Government had recently notified a new subsidy scheme for rooftop solar plants. Under the scheme, the amount of subsidy was increased from 30 per cent to 40 per cent for solar panels up to 3 kWp capacity. For solar units from 4 kWp to 10 kWp, the subsidy will be 20 per cent and there will be no subsidy for plants above 10kWp. Earlier, 30 per cent subsidy was given to all applicants irrespective of the capacity of the plant. — TNS