Solar water heaters

Bangalore has the largest deployment of roof top solar water heaters in India. These heaters
generate an energy equivalent of 200 MW.[83]

Bangalore is also the first city in the country to put in place an incentive mechanism by
providing a rebate of 50 (74 US) on monthly electricity bills for residents using roof-top
thermal systems.[84] These systems are now mandatory for all new structures.

Pune has also recently made installation of solar water heaters in new buildings mandatory.[85]

Rural electrification

Lack of electricity infrastructure is one of the main hurdles in the development of rural India.
India's grid system is considerably under-developed, with major sections of its populace still
surviving off-grid. In 2004, about 80 000 of the nation's villages still didn't have electricity. Of
these villages, 18 000 could not be electrified through an extension of the conventional grid. A
target for electrifying 5000 such villages was set for the Tenth National Five Year Plan (2002
2007). As of 2004, more than 2700 villages and hamlets had been electrified, mainly using solar
photovoltaic systems.[15] Developments in cheap solar technology are considered as a potential
alternative that would allow an electricity infrastructure consisting of a network of local-grid
clusters with distributed electricity generation.[86] It could allow bypassing (or at least relieving)
the need to install expensive, wasteful, long-distance, centralized power delivery systems and yet
bring cheap electricity to the masses. In Rajasthan during 2016- 17 , 91 villages have been
electrified through solar standalone system.In these villages more than 6200 Households have
been provided 100 watt solar home lighting system.

India currently has around 1.2 million solar home lighting systems and 3.2 million solar lanterns
sold or distributed.[87] In addition, India has been ranked the number one market in Asia for solar
off-grid products.[88][89]

Projects currently planned include 3000 villages in Odisha, which will be lighted with solar
power by 2014.[90][91][92][93]

Solar lamps and lighting

By 2012, a total of 4 600 000 solar lanterns and 861 654 solar powered home lights had been
installed. These typically replace kerosene lamps and can be purchased for the cost of a few
months' worth of kerosene through a small loan. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is
offering a 30% to 40% subsidy for the cost of lanterns, home lights and small systems up to 210
Wp.[94] Twenty million solar lamps are expected by 2022.[95]
Agricultural support
Solar photovoltaic water pumping systems are used for irrigation and drinking water. The
majority of the pumps are fitted with a 2003000 watt motor powered with a 1800 Wp PV array
which can deliver about 140,000 litres (37,000 US gal) of water per day from a total head of 10
metres (33 ft). By 30 September 2006 a total of 7068 solar photovoltaic water pumping systems
had been installed,[86] and by March 2012 7771 had been installed.[96]

Solar driers are used to dry harvests before storage.[97]

Solar refrigeration and air conditioning

4 MW horizontal single axis tracker in Vellakoil, Tamil Nadu

Thin-film solar cell panels offer better performance than crystalline silica solar panels in tropical
hot and dusty conditions like India. There is less deterioration in the conversion efficiency with
increase in ambient temperature and no partial shading effect. These factors enhance the
performance and reliability (fire safety) of the thin film panels.[98][99] The maximised solar
electricity generation during the hot hours of the day can be used for meeting air conditioning
requirements irrespective of other load requirements such as refrigeration, lighting, cooking,
water pumping etc. in a residential house. The power generation of the photovoltaic modules can
be enhanced further by 17 - 20% by equipping the modules with a tracking system[100]

Residential electricity consumers who are paying higher slab rates more than Rs 5 per unit, can
form in to local groups to install collectively roof top off-grid solar power units (without much
battery storage) and replace the costly power used from the grid with the solar power as and
when produced.[101] Hence power drawl from the grid which is an assured power supply without
much power cuts nowadays, serves as cheaper back up source when grid power consumption is
limited to lower slab rate by using solar power during the day time. The maximum power
generation of solar panels during the sunny day time is complementary with the enhanced
residential electricity consumption during the hot/summer days due to higher use of cooling
appliances such as fans, refrigerators, air conditioners, desert coolers, etc. It would discourage
the DisComs to extract higher electricity charges selectively from its consumers.[102] There is no
need of any permission from DisComs similar to DG power sets installation. Cheaper discarded
batteries of electric vehicle can also be used economically to store the excess solar power
generated in the daylight.[103]

Power grid stabilisation

See also: Availability-based tarif, Solar inverter, and Tesla Powerwall

Solar power plants equipped with battery storage systems wherever net energy metering is
implemented can use the stored electricity to feed electricity into the power grid when its
frequency is below the rated parameter (50 Hz) and draw the excess cheap power from the grid
when its frequency is above the rated parameter.[104] Every day, frequency excursions above and
below the rated grid frequency are in the order of 100 times in a day.[105][106] The solar power plant
owner would get nearly double the price for the electricity sent into the grid compared to the
electricity consumed from the grid if a frequency-based tariff is offered to rooftop solar power
plants or solar power plants dedicated to a distribution substation.[107][108] A power purchase
agreement (PPA) is not needed for solar power plants with a battery storage system to effectively
serve ancillary services operations and to transmit generated electricity for captive consumption
utilising an open access facility.[109] Battery storage is already popular in India with more than 10
million households using batteries as back-up in case of load shedding.[110] Battery storage
systems are also used to improve the power factor.[111]