LAUSR

ABSTRACT India achieved a significant milestone by enabling electric access to all villages in April 2018. More importantly, the focus is now on stable and regular electric supply. Government of India’s various modifications in the Electricity Acts, revised Tariff Policy, and various State-level policies along with other market-friendly incentives together have increased Roof Top Photo Voltaic (RTPV) system installation rates and capacity in India over the last decade. Yet, key regulatory and operational issues are observed in the RTPV market set-up during the study (2016–2018), delaying adoption of the roof top PV systems in India. These include skills for solar panel installations, maintenance and higher costs of operations. Research is required to develop interconnectivity, designing and installation-related engineering skills. The solar market analysis has emphasised that awareness among users, ease of installation and energy payback time as important parameters considered for technology diffusion. Typical north Indian market observed through interviews and an experiment using 1.5 kW domestic RTPV system experimental set-up and Energy Pay Back Time of the RTPV system in India is 8.61 years owing to market barriers and lack of skilled manpower. RTPV system brings reduction in the CO2 emission as compared to the coal-based plant.