Success stories of savings from solar, like this one in Times of India are becoming more common day by day as large scale Corporates, Industries and Institutes become aware of the immense potential. To be able to save Lakhs of Rupees every year and then inject it back into the business for growth is a dream of every business owner.

The best part is, going solar will help you consistently save for a period of next 25 years. With a little maintenance regularly performed, your solar system will be a cash cow on your rooftop as you make use of space, that was lying idle. Geographically, India is perfectly placed to receive 300+ sunny days helping improve the yield. Chandigarh, the capital city of Punjab and Haryana has fantastic solar potential aided by some very positive solar policies.

How will Businesses in Chandigarh Profit with Solar?

Chandigarh is a hub of both small and large scale businesses. They tend to have a high monthly power requirement. To fulfil this requirement with sole dependence on the electricity grid, they pay Lakhs every month. However going solar can help businesses save a huge fraction of this money in fact, sometimes as much as 80% of the expenses on power every month as shown by numerous solar projects commissioned by MYSUN in India.

Chandigarh has a thriving economy and also a tremendous solar generation potential. As aforementioned, with more than 300 sunny days that the city experiences, going solar is an undoubtedly financially rewarding decision for businesses of all sizes and scope; be it from the IT, manufacturing, electronics, pharmaceuticals, machine tools or plastic industry of the city.

How much will your Business Save with Solar in Chandigarh and How?

When you solarize your business, the power generated through the solar system becomes the primary source of power for your business. Therefore, during the day when your solar system generates enough electricity to fulfil your business’s power requirements, your business saves the electricity tariffs that it would pay to the DISCOM, i.e around INR 7.5 - the approximate electricity tariff for the commercial and industrial category in Chandigarh. If your solar system is connected to the grid, any excess energy generated by the solar system can be transferred to the grid, via Net Metering, against the solar tariff which is at around INR 3.6 for Commercial and Industrial category in the city.

With this process, your business can reduce a major portion of its monthly electricity bill. You can get a quick estimation of your solar savings by running the MYSUN Solar Calculator.

Estimated Solar Savings of an Industry in Chandigarh with 10 Lakh Monthly Power bill

How can you Go Solar in Chandigarh with MYSUN? The Benefits You can avail.

MYSUN is the largest online rooftop solar platform in India and has made the solar journey easy for hundreds of MSMEs and SMEs across the country. With MYSUN’s end to end solar solutions ranging from Solar System Designing, Solar System Installation, Solar Financing and Solar System Service and Maintenance; businesses get answers to all their solar needs under one roof. Moreover, with the plethora of information about solar available on MYSUN’s online platform www.itsmysun.com, such as Solar FAQs, Solar Blog, and Solar Policies, businesses have an opportunity to research in-depth and make an informed decision, before going solar.

To install a solar system with MYSUN in Chandigarh or its adjoining cities like Mohali, Patiala, Panchkula, Ambala, Zirakpur, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, Manimajra or Rupnagar, get in touch with our solar advisors by calling us on +91 8448380218 or writing to us at [email protected]. Our solar advisors will guide you through your solar journey seamlessly.

“We are excited to have started reaping the benefits of solar energy and expect to significantly reduce our monthly electricity bills. With this well-engineered and premium quality solar system installed by MYSUN, we are sure to save more than Rs 7 crores over the next 25 years just on our electricity costs. And it makes us proud to make our contribution to a cleaner environment.” - Rajesh Chadha - Director, Update Prints.

The financial viability of solar has been tried, tested and experienced by businesses across the globe. And the above statement from MYSUN’s reputed client, Mr Rajesh Chadha - the business owner of a leading Label Printing company in Gurgaon, reinstates this belief. Going solar benefited the company to improve its profits and it is no surprise that they have opted to go solar again, enhancing the overall capacity and therefore savings.

Let’s evaluate the scenario once again.

Power Requirement & Expenses of the Company Before Going Solar

Being in the business of large scale label printing, electricity expenses make for a sizable expense for the organization. Most of the company’s daily power requirement was fulfilled by drawing electricity from the grid. The average monthly units consumed by the company stood somewhere around 41,884 units, for which, the company incurred expenses of around INR 3 Lakh every month and close to INR 36 lakhs a year.

After Solar - Big Savings with MYSUN

The company decided to install a 231 kWp solar plant custom-designed by MYSUN to cater to the specific power requirements of the company in the premise of saving Lakhs. Post commissioning of the plant, the company was able to bring its power bill down from an average of INR 3 Lakh per month to about INR 2 Lakh per month. The decision to invest in solar, aided with MYSUN’s immaculate engineering and diligent service, paid off for the company, as they saved around INR 10~12 Lakhs during the first year of its solar journey.

Savings on Monthly Power Bills After Installing the First Solar System

After Solar - The Company Installs its Second Rooftop Solar System

Having experienced the financial viability of solar first hand, the management of the company decided to enhance its solar capacity by installing a second solar system of 119 kWp size. With this addition, the company has now increased its solar saving potential from approx. INR 1 lakh per month to approx INR 1.55 lakh per month. Thanks to the expanded solar capacity, the company is now eyeing at saving around 15 crores in the next 25 years of its solar journey.

Savings on Monthly Power Bills After Installing the Second Solar System

Solarize your Business and Save Crores Just like Rajesh Chadha in Gurgaon

The results from solarizing, as presented by the above case-study, shows the savings potential of hundreds of commercial and industrial enterprises based out of Gurgaon, Manesar, Panipat, Sonipat, Karnal, and other industrial hubs in Haryana. In fact, why just Haryana, throughout India. Going solar today is a strategic investment decision for businesses around the country, and is a risk-free option which fulfils businesses’ indispensable need for power with an assured Return on Investment.

MYSUN, India’s largest online rooftop solar platform, is proud to be able to partner with MSMEs and SMSEs across the nation to facilitate their solar transition with a range of holistic solar solutions such as Solar Engineering and Designing, Solar Installation, Operation and Maintenance and Solar Financing.

Just before the budget announcement, January ended with some good news for MSMEs who are planning to go solar in Gujarat’s Manufacturing sector. The Micro, Small and Medium Manufacturing Enterprises in the state can now install solar systems above their sanctioned load. The Gujarat solar policy, which earlier had a capping of 50% of the sanctioned load on MSMEs installing rooftop solar, was removed after much consideration including a public redressal. The removal, however, comes with a catch. Let's take a look at it along with the other amendments announced by the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) on 23rd January 2020, below:

The Good:

1. The commission has revoked the capping of 50% for manufacturing enterprises falling under the MSME segment, which earlier prevented MSME Manufacturers in the state from installing rooftop solar systems more than 50% of the sanctioned load.
2. Similar to the MSME Manufactures of the state, the limitation on the solar system size has also been removed for the residential consumers in the state, which earlier stopped them from installing a system above the sanctioned load.
3. The capping of the cumulative capacity of solar PV systems allowed under a particular distribution transformer has been given relaxation in the amendments. The capacity has now been increased to a transformer’s full capacity over the earlier limitation of 65% of the total capacity.

The Bad:

1. Even though the commission, in its amendment, has removed the installable solar system size capping for MSME Manufacturers, the commission has not included other industries in it. The prevalent capping of 50% of sanction load will continue to be effective in other MSME industries in the state.
2. The rate at which the surplus energy generated from the solar system is transferred to the DISCOM via net-metering has now been reduced to INR 1.50 ~1.75 per unit from INR 6.5 per unit for all MSMEs including manufacturers. This change will have a severe impact on the benefits of net-metering for consumers in the category impacting their savings from solar.
3. The removal of the installable capacity cap for the manufacturing industry in the MSME segment has been made subject to a 15 minutes settlement mechanism. Under this, for the enterprises installing a rooftop solar system above 50% of the sanctioned load, the energy accounting will be carried out on 15 minutes time block basis instead of a monthly basis. So, solar generation during non-operational days or non-operational hours within a day, when there is less or no consumption, would be credited at 1.5~2-0 Rs/unit instead of 6.5 Rs/unit(the earlier solar tariff), thereby cutting down on solar project Return on Investment and increasing Payback period.
4. The rate of transferring surplus energy to the DISCOM has also been reduced for residential consumers in the state to INR 2.25 per unit, thereby will affect their savings as well.

MYSUN Take -

The amendment released by the commission is no doubt ambivalent in nature. While on one hand, the commission has omitted the capping on the installing capacity for manufacturing category, on the other hand, it has brought no relaxation to MSMEs falling in other categories. The reduction of solar tariff from the earlier equivalent to electricity tariff has further diminished benefits an MSME or a residential consumer can avail by going solar. Amendments with conditions as such are set to slow the acceptance of a clean source of energy that solar is. The provisions made do seem to make efforts to increase the capacity of solar energy in the state but then holds the potential back with many restraints.

In what was the longest Union Budget speech in Parliamentary history, there were a number of key announcements in the form of major tax reforms, budget allocations across categories, and a promise of a simplified GST scheme. Amidst all the lukewarm reaction surrounding the income tax reforms, there were some key announcements concerning the renewable energy sector.

In an effort to boost energy generation and the use of renewable energy, the government has expanded the ‘PM Kusum Scheme’ to 20 lac farmers by setting up grid-connected solar farms on barren lands making ‘Annadata an Urjadata’. Carrying out these institutional changes should help reduce the dependence on thermal and other non-renewable resources, and in-turn boost the dependability on renewable energy sources and increase agricultural earnings. The Finance Minister also announced the plans to set up solar power plant on lands parallel to railway tracks that belong to the Government in a bid to increase the installed capacity.

The financial stress that DISCOMs have been facing in the past year has been a major detriment to the industry. The initiative announced by the government to push smart-metering and urging state and union territories to replace and adopt pre-paid smart meters in the next three years, is a good way to encourage DISCOMs to provide better services at competitive prices. The Government admitted to the stress that the DISCOMs are facing and assured to work with the DISCOMs on the same, this may also lead to relaxing the sudden changes to policies in key aspects like Net Metering.

The announcement of the allocation of Rs. 22,000 Crore to the power and renewable energy sectors is all well and good, but the question remains as to where and how will these funds be utilised? Furthermore, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that Rs. 4,400 Crore will be allocated to climate change management, as air pollution and climate change have only become a greater public health concern in the past year, assuring the Government's commitment to the Paris Agreement.

Amidst all of these revelations, there was little to no mention about the custom duties on imports, and it remains to be seen how the government plans to deal with this issue though there are reports of a 20% Basic Custom Duty on Solar Cell & Module Imports in addition to the safeguard duty. These may lead to price fluctuation.

Update: As per the latest media reports, the 20% custom duty on solar cells and panels has been removed with immediate effect.

The budget also had a very heavy emphasis on MSMEs. It was announced that a new logistics policy will be unveiled soon to make India’s MSME sector more competitive. This scheme should play a crucial role in boosting the country’s dwindling economy and help in the ease of doing business. On the flip-side, the concession in corporate tax for power companies will definitely not benefit many businesses.

And lastly, in regards to the most talked-about issue i.e. the income tax rebate on personal income; its application over time will reveal the benefits and the drawbacks of the new slabs proposed, and how it will be received by the public and the industrial circles.

Conclusion

The longest Budget speech, may already have impacted, for the worse, the health of the FM and the markets, but it did little to encourage people from investing in solar. There is still a lot left to be desired for the solar and renewable industry, as it remains to be seen how the Government will utilize the allocated funds for the industry given the heavy debt that the industry already finds itself in. Thankfully, there are no new subsidies announced and the announcement of a directive to close old Thermal plants may work in the favour of renewables, a lot will depend on the utilisation of the set budget to the power and renewable sector. The concessional tax rate for electrical generation companies and long term reforms are encouraging and we hope that it will ultimately boost the post sector keeping renewables at the heart of out.