The lockdown in the years 2020 and 2021 has hit the MSME sector very hard and Rooftop solar industry is one of the worst affected sectors because of the lockdown.
The government of India announced a slew of measures, schemes, and incentives to help the MSME sector. Center and state governments have been making announcements that they are doing their best to revive the MSME sector.
The Solar Energy sector is one of the fastest-growing sectors in India over the last few years. The Industry has contributed substantially in generating employment, reducing T ad D losses in power supply, and cutting down harmful carbon emissions.
However, the rooftop solar energy sector is yet to catch up with the pace of the world, also with the target given by the government of India. The government of India has set a target of 40 GW by the year 2022 for the rooftop solar segment and regrettably, we have not even achieved one-third of the target. It is very unlikely that this ambitious target is going to be met.
One of the reasons attributed to the poor offtake of rooftop solar in India is poor awareness and high capital cost. While this may be true, one of the least discussed and perhaps the greatest impediments in the implementation of rooftop solar in India is poor policy and inaction by State regulatory commissions and even poor implementation by the state DISCOMS.
Take for example the state of Karnataka. It is one of the most progressive states in terms of renewable energy adoption. Yet, it is seeing one of the darkest days (Like other states) with respect to rooftop solar energy generation.
The Energy policy in the state is decided by the Karnataka Energy Regulatory Commission (KERC). It is the KERC that decides the feed-in tariff, the net metering regulations, the interconnection voltages, etc.
The Rooftop solar energy policy will be valid till 31 march of every year and a new policy will be notified by the commission for the next financial year. However, there is no fixed time by which the new policy has to be issued. Installers and businesses around solar have to keep waiting.
The year 2021 still does not have a policy. All rooftop solar works have come to a halt since new guidelines and policies are not issued by the commission with respect to rooftop solar installation. No new PPAs or Power Purchase agreements are made from April 01, 2021.
This inaction, lack of policy and no firm commitment to timelines is causing panic and anxiety in the solar industry. Thousands of people have lost jobs and many more are likely to lose jobs in the coming days if the authorities behave indifferently with no concern either for the economy or for the environment.
One of the reasons given by the commission is that they are awaiting some policy guidelines from the Ministry of Power (MOP). In the interim time, till the guidelines come from the ministry of power, KERC could have continued with the previous year's policies saving hundreds of jobs. (The MOP could have also said, old guidelines will be in force until the new one is issued) .
The new guidelines have also been issued by MOP in the last week of June 2021 but KERC is yet to act on them.
The Rooftop solar industry in Karanataka has already lost one quarter of a year with no idea how much more to wait for the new policy.
This has been the story in few other states as well.
If central and state governments are truly concerned about reviving the economy, they must not sit on important policies for months together. With COP 26 happening in the next couple of months, India must aggressively push for sustainable and equitable development. However, the poor actions on the ground do not give hope in that direction.
Solar has immense potential both in terms of ensuring clean energy and generating employment. Government must capitalize on this great gift of the sun by making adoption of it easier & simpler instead of entangling it in the web of inefficient bureaucracy.
The government's purported concern towards MSME is also not in sync with the way it has handled the rooftop solar segment. If they were truly concerned about MSME, the government must have acted on new guidelines on time and also issued orders to states not to delay implementation of clean energy technologies.
We are still caught up with old bureaucratic models of endless red-tapism and inaction. If we have to reduce the ill effects of climate change and revive the economy, we have to act very quickly. Generating employment and reducing carbon emissions must be our top two priorities. Bureaucracy must be in pace with the urgent needs. If we continue in the paradigm of poor accountability, climate change will soon sweep us into death and despair.
