Bengal may unveil renewable energy regulations in a fortnight

The West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission (WBERC), may unveil renewable energy regulations in a fortnight, paving the way for households and housing complexes to install solar rooftop panels and connect them to the grid.

“We are trying to release the renewable energy regulations in the next 15 days, after final consultation with the stakeholders,” WBERC chairman RN Sen said.

The regulation will help build an ecosystem for rooftop solar panels, he added.

Sen said they have moved away from the net-metering concept.

“Net-metering was not helping small power consumers and feed-in tariff makes rooftop solar projects more bankable,” he said.

Feed-in tariff is the tariff for power injected into the grid and will be announced by WBERC every year for a 25-year life span. It is expected that this policy will encourage rooftop solar power generation in a big way in the state.

Net-metering is a billing mechanism that credits solar energy system owners for the electricity they add to the grid. There are companies that install solar panels without any capex to the household, but levy a fixed power charge, which is lower than the tariff charged by the utility.