The Indian government has just released its benchmark cost for the rooftop solar sector for the coming year and it is one of the lowest in the world. For a rooftop solar project between 100-500 kW, the cost is just $900/kilowatt which means that you can install a 10 kW rooftop solar project for just $11000. This is an incredibly low price for meeting a large portion of the electricity requirements of the house.
A 10kW installation can provide the power of 15000 units a year which equates to almost 1250 units a month. This is more than enough for a family given the normal consumption patterns in even high-income households in India where average consumption is more like 200 – 300 units.
You might also like to read about various solar subsidies in India.
Rooftop capacity | Benchmark cost (INR/W) |
up to 10kW | 70 |
>10-100kWp | 65 |
>100-500kWp | 60 |
This implies that you get solar electricity at just about INR 5/unit which is lower than the normal power cost which comes to around INR 6-7 in most of the major Indian cities (I am not taking into account the lower slabs which are subsidised heavily by the government).
Also, read List of Top Rooftop Solar panels in India.
Though batteries raise the power costs, even these prices have shown a massive decline in costs over the years. The cost of completely going off the grid is around INR 10/unit which means that this is much cheaper than using diesel gen sets which cost around INR 20/unit. Solar has become much cheaper than diesel.
PV plant | Benchmark cost (INR/W) |
>1kW-10kW (with battery bank @ 7.2VAh/W) | 135 |
>1kW-10kW (with battery bank @ 3.6VAh/W) | 108 |
>1kW-10kW (with battery bank @ 1.2VAh/W) | 90 |
2 Comments
Pls list out Top Ten Solar panel providers in India .
Pls list separately for lighting & water heating.
It will be very useful.
Thank you for your query Mr. Chandrashekhar! Will surely make that list for separate components 🙂