A house in HSR Layout has become the first and smallest solar power-generating station in the country after the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the house owner on Monday.

The residence of Lalitha Shankaranarayana now generates about eight units of solar power per day and can export up to five units per day to the grid, on a sunny day.

After years of delay and debate, Bescom has now taken a big leap in encouraging micro-power producers by signing an agreement with Lalitha on November 17.

With this, Bescom, too, has become the first electricity supply company in the country to encourage green energy production in households by entering into a full-fledged PPA.

“The implementation of the rooftop power plant has been delayed for a long time, but this is a significant step and the Bescom is credit-worthy,” said Ravi Shankar Satyanarayana, son-in-law of Lalitha, an IITian and the person responsible for setting up the plant.

According to the agreement, the household will supply power at a cost of Rs 9.56 per unit as fixed by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission. Bescom has agreed to procure power from the house for 25 years. The agreement can be terminated at the will of the seller.

To encourage more people, Bescom has said it will pay interest to the sellers, if it fails to credit the money for power supplied within 30 days of pumping energy into the grid. House owners can also lease out their rooftops for generation of solar energy.

The house has solar power plant with a generating capacity of two kilowatts. It was taken up as a pilot project by Bescom in 2011.

The power supplied free of cost to the grid was produced using nano rooftop solar photovoltaic systems.

After the first PPA, Bescom on Tuesday signed four more PPAs with homeowners in Bengaluru, where pilot projects were taken up in 2013.

Pankaj Kumar Pandey, managing director, Bescom, told Deccan Herald that they hope to add at least five megawatt of power by end of the financial year.  “The response is good and we already have 120 applications till Monday. People in the City being more green conscious are collecting more applications,” Pandey said.

With the City still growing and receiving 300 days of sunshine, there is potential to generate solar power through rooftop plants, he said.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> City / by Subhash Chandra NS, Bengaluru / DHNS – November 18th, 2014