Community solar – differentiated subscription model is suitable for low-paying consumers who do not have roof ownership or have access to exclusive roof spaces.
Benefits to discoms
  1. By increasing the adoption among low- and medium- paying consumers, discoms benefit from reduced cross-subsidy burden.
  2. Discoms could have an additional revenue stream with the collection fee charged for billing and payment collection.
Benefits to consumers
  1. Consumers living in apartments and high-rise buildings can avail the benefits of rooftop solar energy.
  2. Those consumers who cannot afford to pay the upfront cost can subscribe to the system on a monthly basis and get the subsequent benefits.
  3. Low- and medium-paying consumers can also subscribe to solar energy at feasible rates.
  4. Aggregated procurement by the discom can ensure better quality of installation.
Benefits to Developers
  1. Payment collection by the discom reduces the payment default risk for the developers.
  2. Developers can gain access to communities that are interested in solar rooftop systems and are able to install relatively larger systems compared to individual residential systems, thus reducing customer acquisition and other transactional costs.
Source : Implemented in various places
  • Target Consumer Segment
    Low and medium paying consumers with access to shared roof
  • Location
    Apartment buildings, and other shared community spaces
  • Asset Ownership
    Third-party
  • Metering Arrangement
    Virtual net-metering
  • Role of Discom
    Aggregated procurement, payment collection
  • Level of involvement by utility
    High
  • Need for partnerships
    Medium
  • Revenue to DISCOM
    Medium
  • Skill Requirement
    High
  • Risk to Utility
    Medium