The Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has invited expressions of interest (EOI) from interested consultants to conduct an evaluation of phase II of the country’s Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Programme.

Phase II of the program was launched on March 8, 2019 comprising 2 components. Under component A, the target was to set up 4 GW of grid connected rooftop solar projects for residential sector with central financial assistance (CFA) to be achieved by 2022. According to the MNRE, it has already allocated targets of around 3.3 GW capacity to state implementing agencies and more than 1 GW has been reported to be installed under the program.

Under component B, MNRE provided incentives to electricity distribution companies (discoms) based on their achievement towards initial 18 GW of grid connected rooftop solar plants.

Evaluation of phase II will ascertain the filed performance of installed projects, identify bottlenecks in existing implementation process, assess performance of the components for different stakeholders, while also provide recommendation on further scale-up of the program.

Once shortlisted through the EOI, consultants will be required to submit detailed proposals against the RFP.

Last date to submit the EOI is January 10, 2022, according to the MNRE call.

India has an overarching rooftop solar target of 40 GW to be achieved by December 31, 2022 under the National Solar Mission. However, this target is nowhere closer to be achieved by the target timeline as according to the MNRE, till November 30, 2021 India’s total installed rooftop solar capacity had reached a meagre 6.11 GW. Between April 2021 and November 2021, India installed only 1.67 GW rooftop PV.