Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday inaugurated the city’s first large-scale residential solar power plants at Dwarka.

The four societies which house around 2,000 residents include Ispat CGHS, Saksham apartments, Supriya apartments and Navrattan apartments, will be the first projects after IP Extension’s Milan Colony to have its own solar power plant.

The plants of capacity of about 300 KW will entail zero investment from the societies and they will only be paying for the power produced, at tariffs as low as Rs 4.5 / kWh. The installations will be eligible for an additional incentive of Rs 2/kWh of generation based incentive from the Delhi government.

The solar power plants are being set up by Delhi-based residential solar power projects developer Oakridge Energy under the power purchase agreement (PPA) mode which would amount to no upfront investment from the residents of Dwarka sector.

“The plants will generate over 4.8 lakh units of power each year or over 1.2 crore over 25 years. At present tariff levels, it results in saving of about Rs 2 crore to the societies at current tariff slabs, with no upfront payment required from their side,” said CEO, Oakridge Energy, Shravan Sampath. The entire investment would be met by the company, which would generate revenue by charging the societies for the power generated.

CM Kejriwal said, “For the first time, solar plants are being installed on such a grand scale. Consumers will be able to save Rs 2.5 per unit and the society will be able to obtain clean and green power without any investment but just by utilising resources. The state government welcomes private enterprises to come forward and work with us to step up solar power generation and reduce dependence on conventional means. It is also understood, over their lifetime, the plants would save over one crore kg of C02 emissions, which is quite remarkable.”

The Chief Minister also said that power tariffs in Delhi are less than Mumbai. “If you compare power tariff with other states, 400 units of power in Delhi would cost around Rs 1,200 and in Mumbai, it would cost Rs 4,000. We are able to give uninterrupted power supply, with some exceptions, as promised during elections,” said Kejriwal.

The CM added that the Aam Aadmi Party will hold meetings with all Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs) across the national capital soon. The meetings would emphasise on starting similar initiatives in other apartments and societies to install the solar power plants.