Consumer electrical and appliances maker Panasonic Life Solutions will introduce residential solar kits in May. 

The solar kits will be launched in Pune and Nashik, and will later be introduced across seven cities. The company aims to have 3 Megawatts of solar kits installed this year. 

“We have been doing solar modules for commercial and industrial customers, including setting up solar plants on the roof of a factory, commercial building or ground space, since 2015. This is an additional focus as we add to our product basket that has switches, wires, cables, fans and lighting products. On the residential side, we will focus on 6 to 7 cities this year, and the next year would see real consolidation for us, that we not just expand, but also build volumes in the cities,” Business Unit-Head of Solar at Panasonic Life Solutions India, Amit Barve, told businessline. 

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The company will introduce the residential kits on a pilot basis in Maharashtra owing to the electricity tariffs being the highest in Maharashtra.

The solar kits will be provided at competitive prices and the company has tied up with banks and NBFCs for financing. 

The solar kits that are manufactured in India will be introduced initially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities rather than the metros based on the availability of sites for setting up the solar power plant. 

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The company has witnessed an uptick in demand for residential solar kits after a spike in electricity tariff rates. 

“Traditionally, the pick-up among consumers has been affected because the benefits of opting for solar power have to be weighed against the commercial viability, feasibility and the ease of financing offered.

Going forward, while electricity tariffs are expected to increase, the price of solar power is declining as volume scale grows in terms of consumption, and the Government of India is also pushing to promote distributed decentralised generation. The level of awareness is picking up in every household,” said Barve. 

However, unlike its competitors, the company is not looking at partnerships with residential societies for setting up solar roofs as of now. 

“Currently, we are looking at packaged products of a specific range. Residential societies would need a design-based product because every society will have different consumption. They will have a different roof area available, this business is currently not done by Panasonic directly, but by our system integrators, who buy our modules from the distribution channel. The projects use Panasonic modules for tailor-made systems that we won’t get into directly. But what we would do is add more features to this packaging,” added Barve. 

Also read: In a first, Tata Power to help Mumbai housing complex go green with solar energy

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