Rooftop solar potential estimation and its economic viability: a case study of Varanasi
Student name: Mr Puneet Kamboj
Guide: Dr Atul Kumar
Year of completion: 2016
Host Organisation: Centre for Environment and Energy Development (CEED), New Delhi
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Mr Ramapati Kumar
Abstract: In 2015, the current government of India has raised the previous government target of 20000 MW to 175000 MW of renewable energy based power by 2022. In this target 100000 MW has to be achieved by solar energy and out of this 40000 MW from rooftop solar PV. This push to rooftop solar PV in the country has created a market for rooftop solar PV system ranging from kW scale projects to MW scale projects. In this case study of Varanasi, an attempt has been made to estimate the rooftop solar potential for the city and to assess its economic viability. The method used for potential estimation is constant-value method which uses the basic land use data from the city Master Plan. As per the study the total estimated rooftop solar PV potential for Varanasi city is 676 MW out of which the residential consumers has the maximum potential of 443 MW which is 66% of the total potential. In the current scenario the Varanasi utility is losing ₹1.36 on per unit of electricity sold due to T&D losses. The estimated potential for Varanasi will not only help in reducing the day time peak demand but also will help in reducing the distribution losses. Considering the existing grid infrastructure and taking a grid ceiling factor of 20% of its peak demand for intermittent solar energy 210MW of rooftop solar PV system can be easily installed in the urban area of Varanasi. There is gap of ₹4.86/kWh between the levelized tariff of generation from rooftop PV system and grid tariff for residential consumers and it will reach the grid parity level in 2020 considering the current market scenario. Grid parity for commercial consumers will reach in 2018 and for industrial consumers it will reach in 2017. Grid parity for government and public consumers has already been reached and this section of consumers should be targeted first for rooftop solar PV system installation.
