Residential Solar – Business Opportunities in India

(L to R) Mr. Stefan Schaefer (Expectus), Mr. Abhinav Jain (IGEN), Dr. Andre Nobre (Cleantech Solar), Ms. Theresa Jocham (IGEF), Mr. Joerg Gaebler (IGEN), Dr. Christoph Mueller (Simply Solar)

Indo- German Energy Forum organised the “Indo-German Energy Conference” held on 18th September 2019 at Renewable Energy India Expo in Greater Noida. The conference was inaugurated by Mr. Alexander Stedtfeld, Economic Counsellor, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in India and Mr. Pranav Mehta, Chairman NSEFI & Chairman of Global Solar Council. The conference began with the session on “Residential Solar – Business Opportunities in India”. Mr. Stefan Schaefer, CEO Expectus GmbH, Dr. Christoph Mueller, CEO, Simply Solar, Dr. André Nobre, Head of Operations and Maintenance, Cleantech Solar and Mr. Abhinav Jain, Technical Advisor, IGEN, GIZ were the speakers for this session. Mr. Joerg Gaebler, Principal Advisor, IGEN, GIZ, moderated the session with welcoming the audience and outlining the Opportunities in the residential solar PV. He emphasized that Solar PV behind the meter system along with Battery storage will open more market opportunities for solarising the diverse rooftops in India.

Mr. Abhinav Jain GIZ shared insights on new SRISTI scheme and business opportunity available for 700 GW solar market in India by 2047. He emphasised that growing population of India, addition of 240 million houses by 2047 along with regulatory support and competitive price of Renewables will create large demand and provide tremendous business opportunity for residential solar rooftop sector in coming years. Dr. Christoph Mueller continued discussion by introducing the audiences to 2kWp plug-n-play rooftop PV system (PV-Port) developed by GIZ for residential, micro/off-grid applications. He added that PV Port and Store allows to directly connect the rooftop solar panels to the power points, thereby enables a direct flow of energy produced at the solar panel to the grid. Energy is stored in specialized batteries to allow a stable power supply also when demand is high.

Mr. Stefan Schaefer shared his views on logistic related problems and solutions requirement for meeting demand of PV Port solution. He informed that to achieve installation of 5 GW of solar rooftop by year 2022. It is required to have 56 installation every hour which is highly optimistic until we have a very standard logistics arrangement in place. He also emphasised on the packaging and transportation of material for standardized solar rooftop solution. 

Dr. André Nobre shared his experiences of challenges he faced and overcame in managing the Operations and Maintenance of hundreds of rooftop PV systems across India. He shared his experience regarding role of air pollution and soiling which is resulting into under-performing plants at various location in the country.

PV Port and store was also exhibited during REI. The system is designed to address several challenges facing residential consumers and distribution utilities by meeting electricity demand using solar energy. The system is designed for self-consumption with no export to the grid and is connected to a socked in a household all while being quick and easy to install. For more details on PV Port & Store, kindly visit www.home-pv.com or contact Mr. Joerg Gaebler at joerg.gaebler(at)giz.de

Please find presentations below:

           Mr. Abhinav Jain, Advisor, Indo German Energy Programme

            Mr. Stefan Schaefer, CEO, Expectus GmbH

           Dr. Christoph Mueller, CEO, Simply Solar

           Dr. Andre Nobre, Head of aoaperations and Maintenance, Cleantech Solar

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