Curation Team
NEW DELHI: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is likely to install rooftop solar power plants on 989 municipal buildings in a bid to reduce dependency on conventional power sources and lower electricity costs, officials said on Wednesday.
The project will be executed in collaboration with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited (NVVN), a wholly-owned subsidiary of NTPC.
Under the RESCO model, the executing agency bears the cost of installation, operation, and maintenance and is reimbursed over time through a fixed tariff per unit of solar energy generated, as agreed upon in a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
In a push towards renewable energy adoption and reducing dependency on conventional power sources, the civic body has estimated a potential of 10 to 15 megawatt (MW) solar capacity across the proposed buildings. However, this is subject to the outcome of a detailed investment-grade energy audit.
At present, the MCD has installed a total of 574 solar photovoltaic (PV) plants on its buildings, with a cumulative capacity of 13.25 MWp. These include installations carried out under various models across the erstwhile South, North, and East Delhi municipal corporations.
Notably, under an agreement signed between 2022 and 2024 with NVVN, 26 rooftop plants with a combined capacity of 1.08 MWp were commissioned at a levelised tariff of Rs 4.72 per kWh.
With NVVN currently having around 10-15 MW of spare capacity available from its ongoing rooftop solar projects on Delhi Police buildings under the Ministry of Home Affairs, the MCD plans to utilise this surplus to fast-track solar deployment on its properties.
According to officials, the indicative tariff proposed for these new installations ranges from Rs 4.25 to Rs 4.92 per unit, depending on rooftop capacity. This is considered financially more viable than the rates quoted by the Delhi government-owned IPGCL, whose proposal has now been set aside.
The proposal has been listed in the agenda for the upcoming MCD House meeting scheduled for Thursday.
Officials asserted the MCD’s proposed solar expansion will not only help reduce electricity costs but also support the country’s broader clean energy goals. Once implemented, the project will cover nearly a thousand buildings, including schools, offices, and community facilities under the civic body’s jurisdiction.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), in a directive issued in January 2024, designated NTPC as the Renewable Energy Implementing Agency (REIA) for Delhi to fast-track rooftop solar implementation across government buildings.
As part of India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the country aims to achieve 50 per cent of its installed electricity capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030 and reduce emissions intensity by 45 per cent, according to the documents.
