PANJIM: The delay in releasing Central Financial Assistance (CFA) has been a major hurdle for the growth of solar power installations in the households and commercial establishments.
This phenomenon is seen in several States, including Goa. Due to delays in releasing subsidies, installed rooftop capacities for residences have dropped significantly across the country.
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Observing discomfort, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) had issued a notification dated February 2, 2022 titled “Simplification of Procedure – Rooftop Solar Programme Phase 2”.
These guidelines allowed consumers to directly apply for Central subsidies through a national portal. Subsidies will be directly paid to the consumer after installation of the solar plant. However, the consumer can only apply for subsidy after six months of installation.
Earlier, subsidy policy involved the State government paying entire 50 per cent subsidy directly to the solar producers six months after commissioning.
Anirudh Agrawal, Managing Director of Agrawal Renewable Energy and who is also recently appointed as Vice Chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Goa council agrees that the subsidy issue is not very smooth and time consuming.
“I personally have not undertaken this as it is time consuming. There are several challenges as far as payment from the government only does it through registered vendors with the government. These vendors had to submit huge deposit with the government to get themselves registered. Hence most of the vendors do not apply for registration,” said Anirudh Agrawal.
A dealer in solar power installation on condition of anonymity said that, “There is no workflow in the portal to streamline disbursal of Central Financial Assistance. There is no grievance redressal mechanism on the portal in case of delay in activities by certain individuals within the Electricity Department,” said one of the dealers on condition of anonymity.
