POLICY FOR HOUSEHOLD SOLAR ROOFTOP
In 2016, Government of India released model building bye-laws and issued an amendment in the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006 in order to promote and encourage solar rooftop systems in the building sector.
The EIA Notification (which states are required to integrate with their building bye-laws) mandates all buildings spread in an area above 5,000 sq m to have at least 1 per cent of the connected applied load generated from renewable energy sources such as solar PV in order to obtain the necessary environmental clearance. If the state bye-laws integrate this clause, no separate environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is required. The model building bye-laws mandate all new buildings spread on more than 100 sq m to install solar PV
Building bye-laws for solar rooftop PV
| Category of buildings and area | Area standards | Generation requirement |
| Plotted housing | For HIG plots and above | Minimum 5 per cent of the connected load or 20 W per sq ft for “available roof space”, whichever is less |
| Group housing | All proposals, as per group housing norms | Minimum 5 per cent of the connected load or 20 W per sq ft for “available roof space”, whichever is less |
In addition, some states have come up with their own provisions regarding the use of solar rooftop on residential and group housing buildings. For instance, Haryana has mandated the use of solar rooftop on all new residential and housing complexes. An HAREDA order issued on 21 March 2016 states that all new residential buildings on a plot size of 500 square yards or more have to install a solar rooftop system with a capacity of at least 1 kWp or 5 per cent of sanctioned load, whichever is higher.
For all new housing complexes, solar rooftop size is dependent on the area of the plot:
(i) 0.5 acre to one acre—Minimum 10 kWp
(ii) One–two acre—minimum 20 kWp
(iii) Two–five acres—minimum 30 kWp
(iv) More than five acres—minimum 40 kWp
In an order issued on 31 May 2017, a provision was made in the Haryana Building Code, 2017 to grant benefit of additional floor area ratio if the applicant proposes to use a solar PV power plant.
| Per cent of total connected load of the building generated by renewable energy | 15-25 | 26-51 | 51-75 | 76-100 |
| Additional FAR (per cent) for all building uses (except plotted residential) | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 |
The visible gap in these policy documents is that all clauses and changes are directed towards new buildings. For existing buildings that use huge diesel generator (DG) sets to partially meet their needs during power cuts, there are no provisions, even though their rooftops (or other spaces) can be utilized to generate electricity, thus partially replacing the DG sets and reducing the electricity bills of these societies.