Motivating consumers to buy green products is always challenging. Learning from companies like Apple could help as they sell a smart phone at many times the price of competing products for minor (my opinion) additional features. The one product that is offering really good value for money while reducing Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, avoiding air pollution is solar, one KW rooftop solar panel costs INR 50,000 only which is by the way around half the cost of iphone X. Considering cost of electricity at INR 5 per KWh and each 1 KW solar rooftop plant generating roughly 2000 units a year the cost of the panel is recovered in 5 years after which you essentially get free electricity for the next 20 years. Compare this to a cell phone which would be turned to electronic waste in 5 years or you may sell it for a fraction of the cost paid if it is in good condition. Most solar panels have 25 years of warranty and the only maintenance required is cleaning twice a week to avoid dust deposition that reduces the efficiency of panels.
To install 1 kWp one needs 10 sq. m area and the power generated can then be used directly by the household or commercial establishment or if not needed at the time of generation can be fed into the grid and be adjusted in the electricity bill.
The government of India provides Central Financial Assistance (CFA) of upto 30% of the capital cost which further reduced the payback period or enables users in the tariff range of INR 3-4 to also consider solar rooftop installation. The assistance or subsidy is upto 70 % of the benchmark cost for special category states/UTs, i.e. North Eastern States including Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar Islands. It is likely that a new scheme KUSUM will be implemented soon which will provide subsidy to farmers for installing solar pumps along with provision of selling electricity to grid like in case of solar rooftops.
Many people argue that the cost of solar panels is going down so it might be better to install after few years but they should realize that by deferring the purchase decision the current savings potential is lost. Further, the decline in prices is not expected to be as significant as it has been in the last few years for various reasons. The sooner you buy a solar panel the closer you are to a date from which you start generating free electricity.
Due to high cost of batteries the cost of solar system with batteries to supply power 24*7 is almost double the cost without batteries. However, with decline in the cost of batteries it may be viable in 10 years or hopefully earlier to derive all power from solar and use grid electricity in emergency situations. If you would like to reach that situation you should consider buying solar rooftop as it helps create demand that improves economies of scale leading to faster decline in prices. So if you have INR 50,000 and a roof with 10 sq.m do consider installing a solar rooftop.
