India, the pioneer in the RESCO model of the Rooftop Solar Generation

 "O, Sunshine! The most precious gold to be found on earth"

- Roman Payne

The world's population has marched through 8 billion on Nov 15, 2022 as per the United Nations. According to scientists, population growth may continue at an exponential rate until 2050 before flattening down. Sustainability has turned into a recurring issue as the human population has increased. Only this planet can provide for Man's needs in terms of sustenance and survival, and it has been doing so quite generously. The United Nations, in an effort to achieve sustainability, developed a set of 17 objectives which are known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The target year for achieving these goals is 2030, which will assure a viable planet for future generations. No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-Being are a few of the objectives.  

 Globally, the need for energy is increasing along with the human population growth. Providing energy to the entire population has become a huge task for all the nations. According to a World Bank report, as of 2016, approximately 1 billion people lacked access to electricity. Below is a chart that serves as a depiction.

The production of clean energy has become an additional challenge. The production of power via fossil fuels has led to the Greenhouse effect, a rise in global temperatures that threatens to raise the sea level, among other negative effects. Given this concern, the UN created Sustainable Development Goal No. 7, "Affordable and Clean Energy," as a response.

Most of the countries rely on Power generation through Thermal power stations which use fossil fuels such as Coal, Diesel, Gas etc. For instance, thermal power plants produce 50% of all the electricity produced in India. Large scale implementation of generation of electricity from renewable sources like Solar, Wind, Hydro etc will reduce the dependence on Thermal power. Opportunities for such implementation must be investigated using all available tools.

            The countries that are located between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn receive the greatest sunlight, making it favourable for them to produce electricity using solar energy. Since the majority of India is located close to the Tropic of Cancer, it benefits from this feature. 

        The adoption of the RESCO-based Solar power generating idea in all governmental buildings represents a significant turning point in the development of sustainable power generation in India. The government pays nearly nothing for this, and consumers also gain from it. RESCO, which stands for Renewable Energy Supply Company, actually refers to the licenced business company that will install the necessary number of solar modules atop the public structures. Both the government and the consumer will incur no capital costs as a result. The entire cost of installation is borne by the RESCO. The RESCO will supply the generated electricity to the building’s consumer at a fixed price for 25 years. The Capital cost is paid back in a few years and the RESCO makes a profit on all subsequent revenues.

         But what is the benefit to the Consumer? It’s simple. His consumption cost is substantially lesser by atleast 50% of what he has to pay to the standard Supply company for the identical energy consumed.  For instance, the RESCO will charge only Rs. 5.00 per unit of energy utilised if the normal Supply Company charges Rs. 10.00 per unit (kWh). The unit price of RESCO is fixed for 25 years, which provides an additional benefit to the consumer as opposed to the standard power supply company, which may periodically increase the unit price. The Rooftop Solar System will also receive free maintenance from the RESCO for the full 25 years. The installation will be given to the user for free after this time frame. What more could a customer possibly want?

         Another concern is how much the wiring and distribution system of the building will need to be altered in order to include the RESCO's power supply. It will be astonished to learn that absolutely no change is necessary. The Power supply from the RESCO is to be given to the same distribution board where the regular power supply is also connected. The intelligent Inverter in the RESCO’s solar installation will sense the building’s load requirement and will feed the required energy to the building. Any deficit from RESCO will be met from the regular Supply company. On the other hand, if the energy generated by the RESCO is higher than the building’s requirement, the surplus energy will be used by the regular supply company for its other buildings. The regular supply company will provide a summary of the energy provided to and drawn from the building at the end of the month. There will only be a net consumption charge. (The Regular Supply Company instals a net-meter in place of the traditional energy meter for this purpose.) Great, isn't it?          

        The final concern is how the regular supply company will combat its losses as a result of the decreased demand for its energy. Actually, the regular supply company is the State government's body which is already energy deprived. The demand on its supply is already high for the new industries and also for the various social welfare programmes such as providing free electricity to the underprivileged farmers etc. The RESCO concept will thus come as a reprieve to the State Government as it unloads its burden.

      So the concept is great for the RESCO developer, the Consumer and also the State Government’s regular supply company. It’s WIN-WIN situation for all. The planet also gains due to the clean energy which reduces the carbon footprint.

          The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a governmental organisation, invites bids for the development of RESCOs. The contract is being executed in order to install a specific amount of solar power on the roofs of government structures owned by various departments across the country. Despite the fact that this concept was just presented five years ago, a large no. of buildings has been covered by this generation concept and the list is growing.

         I hope the post is informative. Please share your feedback in the comments.

        See you in the next post, bye.