The 10 percent that stops your application being rejected
Module wattages never divide neatly into system sizes, and applications were being rejected for it. MNRE now allows a tolerance on declared DC capacity.
Topic
Compliance
ALMM, net metering approvals, DISCOM requirements and the standards a rooftop solar project has to meet before it can be commissioned.
Who pays when the array blows off the roof?
An undeclared rooftop plant can complicate a building claim, and most warranties exclude storm and fire. What to tell the customer to insure, and what you carry.
The handover that stops the callbacks
Most rooftop systems are handed over with a smile and a WhatsApp message. What a real handover pack contains, and why it pays for itself within two years.
Claiming a module or inverter warranty without losing the argument
Warranties are won or lost at installation, not at failure. The records that make a claim succeed, and the two exclusions that customers never expect to find.
The structure is the part that has to last 25 years
Modules are warranted for decades and the structure holding them often is not. Wind uplift, edge zones, ballast against anchoring, and corrosion near the coast.
Your customer now has to approve your agreement before you install
MNRE has put the vendor-consumer agreement through the PM Surya Ghar portal for consumer approval, with the full installed cost entered and matched to your quote.
One ohm, and the fire that starts in a connector
Earthing is the one thing every DISCOM inspector physically checks, and loose DC connectors are how rooftop systems catch fire. The practice that prevents both.
When the DISCOM says no: reading a feasibility rejection
Rejections rarely explain themselves. The five reasons behind most of them, which are fixable, which are genuinely final, and what to tell the customer.
Net metering, net billing or gross metering: which applies?
Three mechanisms, three very different paybacks, and customers who use the words interchangeably. How to tell them apart before you build a savings table.
Sanctioned load is the ceiling nobody checks until sanction
Most DISCOMs will not sanction a system larger than the connection's sanctioned load. How to spot it on the bill, and what enhancement really costs a customer.
The net metering application, end to end
Eight stages sit between a signed order and an energised net meter. Where each one stalls, what the DISCOM is actually checking, and what to tell the customer.
Getting empanelled in a new DISCOM without stalling work
Registering on the national portal does not let you install in a new territory. What DISCOM level empanelment asks for, and how to sequence it against your sales.
New CEA standards land in April 2027. Check your BOM
The CEA notified amended technical standards in July 2026, effective April 2027: 25 year design life, bypass diodes and salt mist testing near the coast.
Your inverter brand may be off the PM Surya Ghar list
MNRE has told inverter makers to host monitoring servers and generation data inside India. Brands that did not confirm cannot be installed under the scheme.
Maharashtra wants a battery on every job above 100 kW
New rooftop solar above 100 kW in Maharashtra must carry storage at half the solar capacity for two hours. How to size it, quote it and explain what it costs.
ALMM List-II is live. Your price list is three months stale
The cell mandate took effect on 1 June 2026 and procurement costs moved with it. How to requote an open pipeline without eating the difference yourself.
Net metering is being rewritten. What to tell customers now
Two central drafts and a run of state orders all point the same way: net metering gets narrower above 5 kW. What to tell a customer who wants to wait.
DCR and ALMM List-II are not the same rule
Non-DCR modules are not banned outright. Which rule applies to which project, and why the net metering exemption expiring on 31 December 2026 matters.
ALMM List-II and your rooftop pipeline
List-I covers modules. List-II covers the cells inside them. What that distinction means for rooftop jobs you have already quoted, and how to avoid stranding stock.