Last Updated on July 14, 2024 by Asfa Rasheed
Fancy the idea of never having to pay a single penny on utility bills? Every business – big and small – does. Interestingly, installing a solar system on a commercial rooftop offers this very luxury: no or up to 70-80% less electricity bill than usual!
Don’t believe us – well, would you if we tell you that giants like Aditya Birla Group, Reliance Jio, Jindal Steel, and Panasonic have already gone solar? In fact, the entire international space station runs on solar energy.
Can you imagine the kind of financial stability that we’re talking about? Besides, money isn’t the only motivation here. There are some other meaty reasons why installing solar panels on the rooftop can and will help your commercial business grow!
Walk with us and explore all the Whys and Ifs of solar installation on a commercial rooftop in the upcoming sections!
Table of Contents
Top 4 compelling benefits of installing solar panels on a commercial rooftop
Whether you’re a hospital, a warehouse, a school or college, a large-scale industrial plant, or a small-scale shop or office that’s fed up with the electricity bills that just won’t reduce, the upcoming benefits of going solar will certainly delight you.
#1. You will save a lot more than you invest by using commercial rooftops
What’s scaring and stopping you from mending your ways to cleaner and unlimited solar energy? Is it the unsettling feeling that solar panel installation might be another passing-by, short-lived fling between environmentalists and their unending efforts to save nature? Or is it that oil companies have coded your mind in such a way that you still believe that only fossil fuels can sustain, run, and fulfill the global energy requirement?
In either case, if we talk stats, which we will in a while, you’ll be amazed at the naivety of all the concerns.
Let’s talk numbers now:
A 25 KW solar system alone can produce 36,000 units a year (3000 units a month). 3000 units/month are usually enough to support the monthly energy needs of a small-scale commercial building. Now, since the electricity tariff for commercial establishments is typically above ₹10/unit, your monthly savings from the electricity bill alone would be ₹30,000.
Fun fact:
The installation cost of a 25 kW solar system (without battery) is about ₹12 lakh. This means that it takes just 3 years to recover the entire installation cost!
Since solar systems have a life of about 25 years and they require very little maintenance, you can actually save crores in 25 years by simply switching to the use of solar energy.
Did you know that:
● The Punjab Engineering College has installed a 1.3 MW grid-tied solar system? Their annual savings on electricity bills is a whopping
₹1 crores.
● The State Bank Academy in Gurgaon has installed a 100 KW solar system? Their annual savings on electricity bills is ₹3 crores.
#2. You will save even more through Income Tax benefits by using commercial rooftop
Installing solar sounds like a no-brainer when a business can get a return on their investment within 3 years and continue to enjoy free electricity from solar for 25 years. But, that’s not all! What about the tax benefits?
You cannot ignore the tax benefits that you’ll get upon the installation of a solar power plant by using the accelerated depreciation method. It’s one of the best ways to show higher expenditure and lower return on fixed assets (the solar power plant, in this case) for the first few years.
Moving on, let’s now continue with the previous example of a business that installs a 25 kW solar system at a cost of ₹12 lakh.
If the business falls under the income tax bracket of 30%:
- For any other fixed asset worth ₹12 lakh, the business would be able to claim an annual tax benefit of 30% (that’s the income tax rate) of 5% (that’s the annual depreciation for fixed assets) of ₹12 lakh (fixed asset value). The sum is ₹18,000 only.
- If the fixed asset in question is a solar power plant, the accelerated depreciation that can be claimed annually is 40% instead of 5%. Hence, in the very first year, the tax benefit from a solar asset worth ₹12 lakh would be 30% of 40% of ₹12 lakh i.e. ₹1.44 lakh.
Needless to say, installing a solar system gives financial returns in ways over and above the savings on your electricity bills. In fact, the income tax benefits added to electricity savings reduce the payback period of your investment (₹12 lakh) to just 24 to 30 months instead of 3 years.
#3. You’ll be able to thrive despite inflation
The first thing that inflation does is sky-shoot the prices of fuel. Result? A steep increase in the electricity bill.
When you have solar panels on your commercial rooftop, you’re practically producing your own energy – mounting prices of fuel won’t affect your business, nor will power outages.
#4. You’ll earn the trust of the public
Going solar is the mark of being the responsible one. Solar energy is clean, abundant, and non-toxic. When you install solar panels on your commercial rooftop, you’re reducing your carbon footprint significantly.
Having green credentials does not go unnoticed. You’re, after all, putting a cap on carbon emission; thereby, no more contributing to global warming.
It’ll earn you a lot more than the praise of the public – your brand value will finally increase.
What happens If you still don’t go solar?
“Solar power, wind power, the way forward is to collaborate with nature – it’s the only way we are going to get to the other end of the 21st century”: we’re not saying it, the music maestro and famous environmentalist, Bjork is, and we totally agree!
If businesses still don’t go solar in this century, the chances of civilization thriving beyond this century are slim.
● Respiratory diseases and cancer will cloak the entire world.
● Greenhouse gases emitted due to the use of fossil fuels to run companies and power plants will intensify global warming.
● Global warming will melt the glaciers. There will be huge tsunamis.
The entire humankind would be at the risk of extinction. Would you want to play a part in the destruction of the entire planet?
Concluding Thoughts:
Whether it’s a matter of saving lakhs and crores of rupees or beating back the ghost of carbon emission from where it first erupted, solar energy is definitely the way forward in the commercial sector.
When you install a solar system on your commercial rooftop, you’re finally becoming your own boss – no more getting affected by power outages or the increasing cost of fossil fuels.
Always remember, what you’re right now releasing in the air will eventually catch up with you. What is it going to be then – greenhouse gases because you are still using electricity from fossil fuels to run your company or clean air since you’ve installed solar panels on your commercial rooftop?
The choice is yours, the company is yours, and so is the planet! Side with solar energy and be the change you endorse so strongly in theory!
