Assessing the feasibility of large-scale adoption of solar power in the residential sector

India is expected to transition towards a future with wide spread deployment of solar power. Hence, it is necessary to understand the technical, economic and policy related issues that are involved in facilitating this transition. This paper outlines preliminary investigations geared towards assessing the impacts of maximizing the use of solar energy at residential consumer level. Detailed simulations are performed for a hypothetical residential building to quantify how much fraction of the demand can be supplied via energy from its rooftop solar panel. Studies indicate that a large fraction of demand (more that a third) can be met by solar only when combined with a suitable storage technology such as a battery. Since panels and batteries require significant investment, the paper also presents comprehensive economic and policy analysis to evaluate the role of subsidies and tariffs in enabling homeowners to adopt solar energy.