THE net metering regulations announced for solar and wind power generation is a good step forward, but more will be required in the days to come to accelerate the adoption of renewable power generation in the country.

Net metering allows parties to sell electricity that is generated from a solar panel or a wind turbine back to the national grid, thus causing their meters to operate in reverse at times when they are supplying power to the grid, and forward when they are consuming.

Also read: Nepra to promote power generation by consumers

There are different ways to implement net metering and the way that Nepra has chosen to do it in Pakistan is to buy electricity at the same rate as it is sold. If customers end up pumping more electricity into the grid than they have drawn from it the surplus will be credited to their next bill.

In any case, net metering is an essential step towards the widespread use of solar and wind power solutions by individual consumers, whether in the home, industry or commercial category, and the opening of the door to this solution ought to be welcomed.

A few problems remain however, and Nepra would be well advised to continue refining their offering further. For one, the application procedure for a party to register as a power generator is rather cumbersome; even in the best-case scenario, the whole process is likely to take more than two months.

The amount of discretionary power given to the distribution companies, or DISCOS, in the application process is large and more likely to be used to drag the process out and discourage applicants.

The reluctance of the DISCOS to enter into a net metering arrangement will be the next big hurdle that must be overcome in order to find widespread acceptance for renewable power generation at the point of consumption.

In fact, Nepra ought to work out incentives for both the DISCOS and the applicants to enter into a net metering arrangement.

Beyond the incentives, there are some technical hurdles. During times of load-shedding, for instance, the net metering arrangement will come to a standstill. Considering the long hours of load-shedding in the country, the resultant losses to the customer are likely to be a source of discouragement.

The only other alternative would be to use a battery to store that electricity, which defeats the real benefit of net metering, because power storage using batteries is expensive.

This has been the experience in India, where net metering was introduced last year; unfortunately, it has yet to find widespread acceptance there. No doubt, Nepra ought to be congratulated for finally taking this important step.

But to clinch the deal it will need to think about incentives to kick-start the process, as well as a technical solution to keep the arrangement working during outages.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play