Would it be better for the government or utilities to fund home solar panels rather than large solar power plants?
Thanks for A2A.In India, the government supports the roof top initiative as well as large solar plants. There are subsidies on solar powered water pumps for farmers, on solar power systems for residences for people, on customs and excise duties for solar power plants in India. But unfortunately it is not well known to masses, due to which the benefit is not maximized.Some benefits that I see in promoting Solar roof top:-1. Self sustained houses: Every state must have a feed-in-tariff for the individual residents who send excess power into the grid. This shall enable self reliable houses and bring down the power requirements on small scale. Smart grids are another concept that could be useful. 2. Reduce the losses due to transmission: Transmission lines passing through vast expanses of land in order to electrify remotely located villages and communities can be curbed by installing self reliant solar powered system. This will also reduce the transmission loss.3. Source of secondary income: This can also boost a small scale industry in the community by providing people with solar charging stations for electric vehicles and small electric rickshaws (which are gaining ground in Delhi).But the governments are currently focusing on larger issue, which is meeting the industrial requirements, which consume a huge chunk of power supply. Therefore there are many subsidies for larger solar plants. For India, this awareness and subsidization could have a huge impact in terms of reducing the gap between power demand and supply. And I am sure that governments are looking into schemes to implement them.Edit: I forgot to mention the use of diesel powered generators that power many places in India, which can be easily replaced by solar powered systems. The government knows of it and so do the individuals. Hence they work in collaboration to set up the roof top plants.