Solar panels a hit among educational institutions

With leading schools installing solar panels on their rooftops to meet their power consumption, net metering has caught the interest of educational ins-titutes across the capital.

Net metering involves setting up roof top solar panels and producing power for self consumption, whi-le the surplus can be sold to the power distribution co-mpanies at rates approved by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC). Of the total 206 net metering connections, wi-th a sanctioned load of ov-er 7 MW operational in the city, 40 are housed in schoo-ls and educational institutes having sanctioned load of over 1,600 kW (over 1.6 MW).

Power major BSES, that caters to around 70 per cent of the city, said that educational institutes have pipped the other two categories — domestic and commercial — in terms of sanctioned load.

“The response to net metering has been incredibly encouraging. The BSES has energised such connections ranging from a sanctioned load of 1 kW to 1,000 kW. These consumers save between Rs 1,000 to Rs 10 lakh per month,” a BSES spokesperson said.

The potential of the solar power initiative, launched in 2015, in BSES area is in excess of 250-300 MW, the discom said.