Fancy a rooftop solar plant of your own? Now you can, thanks to an imaginative scheme launched by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB). If you opt to partner with the KSEB, you can save at least half of the project cost by sharing the generated electricity with the state-owned utility. If you want to keep all the power to yourself, you can ask the board to build the plant on your rooftop at your expense.
The state-owned utility will fund between 50 per cent to 88 per cent of the total cost of installing solar panels on a customers’ premise with a capacity of 2 to 3 kilowatts. The early-bird offer under the ‘Soura’ project will be available to the first 75,000 applicants.
This scheme would benefit households which consume 120 units to 200 units per month on average. Customers can choose the plan that suits their requirement.
You have to pay Rs 1,000 (Rs 1,190 including the GST) as registration fee when applying for the programme. You can log on to www.sourakseb.in, the KSEB’s online portal, to register. Fill in the consumer number, electricity bill number, phone number and email id. You can also register to the programme at the various electrical stations of the KSEB.
The project is expected to start by June after the completion of the tender process.
A 3 kilowatt project is expected to cost Rs 1,62,000. Customers below the 120 unit mark will have to pay 12 per cent of the total cost, or Rs 19,440, as their share. They will be assured of 25 per cent of the generated electricity without any additional cost for years to come.
Those who consume up to 150 unit per month, will have to pay 20 per cent of the project cost and expect to draw 40 percent of the generated electricity. Those who consume up to 200 units per month will have to pay 25 per cent of the project cost for 50 per cent of the generated electricity.