With the PM's first task after Sri Ram temple inauguration was the launch of Suryodaya Scheme or every house with rooftop solar, the question that quickly comes is what happens to the distributors and generators of electricity companies.
The way electricity works so far is that Power companies generate power using a variety of methods/fuels- Coal, gas, diesel, solar, wind etc. These sell to Power Transmission companies which in turn sells to the final consumer. Many of the Power Transmission companies are in serious financial situation either because govt. is asking them to give free up to a limit and more than that the illegal drawal of electricity by many.
With smart meters and net monitoring, while the meter manipulation is reduced, the issue is still of illegal drawdown of electricity during transmission. If only Tesla had popularised the wireless electricity, this issue would not have come as like internet everyone has to prepay or get a postpaid connection to tap the electricity. No need for cables and wires and a huge savings due to that. But fortunately for Power Transmission companies Tesla's wireless electricity remained in books only.
Now the next issue to hit the power transmission and power generating companies is the rooftop solar. There are two types of rooftop solar - One is called Off grid and one is called On grid. Off grid is expensive and difficult to maintain. It calls for a series of costly batteries to be kept for storage and will have to be changed after a few years. The other one On grid is with the help of a switch/meter the power generated is delivered to the power company. A separate standard connection is given for the electricity consumption. End of each month, the solar electricity generated vs the electricity consumed is netted and payment is made to electricity company if consumed more than generated. The other way around is credited to your account and not paid.
The issue comes if a large number of people opt for the solar electricity that the demand side from suppliers gets reduced. The transmission company has now to pay for the electricity generated by these numerous solar roof tops. Thus to make these transmission companies profitable, they may introduce a minimum drawdown payment i.e. even if you travel and lock your house, while the solar is generating, you are not consuming. To offset this Transmission Companies may seek a minimum drawdown payment which is assumed to be consumed even if not consumed. i.e if you say that you want a minimum drawdown of 100 units at time of connection, and you use 20 units of electricity, you will be assumed to have consumed 100 units of electricity. This mechanism is essential as electricity generated cannot be stored and has to be consumed on production.
As the electricity cannot be stored, one more issue that arises is the skewed production. During day, Solar will generate electricity, while at night it won't. Power generating companies have to work full load in the night to provide power.
These are the issues that need to be discussed by experts in making the Suryodaya project a success.
