To make Delhi India’s leading state in solar energy consumption, the Delhi government on Thursday gave a green signal to Delhi’s new Draft Solar Policy.

The draft Delhi Solar Policy 2022 aims to enable 25 per cent of Delhi’s annual electricity demand to be met by solar by 2025, a jump of three times from 9 per cent in 2022.

Toward this goal, the policy outlines a target of 6,000 MW of total installed solar capacity by 2025 which will make Delhi a leader in solar energy consumption. The operative period of the policy will be three years.

The policy will now be placed in the public domain for 30 days for comments from stakeholders. Subsequently, it will be tabled in Cabinet for final approval.

Speaking about the policy, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, “New solar policy will provide a host of benefits through Generation Based Incentives (GBI) and capital subsidy for residential and commercial consumers in Delhi, besides introducing innovative models of solar deployment.

“With this policy, our aim is to make Delhi a leader in solar energy consumption in not only India but also the world,” he said.

Sisodia said the policy has been prepared by Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission after extensive stakeholder consultations with the industry, consumers, government entities, financing institutions, and clean energy think tanks. Along with increasing solar energy consumption, the policy also aims to generate over 12,000 green jobs in Delhi.

The deputy chief minister said the deployment of solar plants on all existing state government properties with a rooftop area of 500 sq.m. or above is now mandatory. It will be carried out in a phased manner and will be completed within the operative period of this policy.

Sharing the benefits of the policy, Sisodia said the policy aims to create a unified single-window state portal managed by the Delhi Solar Cell that will provide information on the benefits of solar PV systems, process-related guidelines, and timeline.

He said to motivate consumers to use solar energy the government will provide various incentives such as generation-based incentives (GBI) and capital subsidies.

“For the first time in the country, consumers will have an opportunity for Community Solar and Peer-to-Peer trading,” Sisodia said.