Solar for Apartments in Kerala: Approvals and Checklist

Your apartment's common meter pays for the lift, pumps and corridor lights, and the bill lands on every owner's maintenance charge. Getting solar for apartments in Kerala means a committee decision, not one person's quote. This guide shows the routes KSERC allows, what the PM Surya Ghar subsidy gives an association, and the checklist your committee needs before it votes.

Can you get solar for apartments in Kerala?

• The common-area connection of a residential high-rise or residential colony can use net metering, from 1 kW to 500 kW.
• That plant cannot be bigger than the common connection's connected load in kW.
• Flats that want a share of one shared plant use virtual net metering, a separate route with its own conditions.
• PM Surya Ghar gives an association ₹18,000 per kWp for common facilities, up to 500 kWp, at 3 kWp per house.
• The subsidised common connection must serve only common facilities, not supply to individual flats.
• A registered owners' or residents' association is the body that applies and signs.

Meaning first: most apartment buildings start with the common meter, the connection that runs the lift, pumps, corridor lights and gate. KSERC lets common area service connections of residential high-rise or multi-storied buildings and residential colonies opt for net metering for plants of 1 kW to 500 kW (Regulation 6.1(iv), with the 500 kW ceiling in Regulation 6.5). As for any net-metered plant, the plant capacity cannot exceed that connection's connected load in kW (Regulation 6.6).

Sizing has one more trigger worth knowing early. For common area connections, a plant above 25 kW and up to and including 100 kW must use a hybrid inverter with storage of at least 10% of the plant's energy generation potential (first proviso to Regulation 6.5). A committee can keep the plant at or below 25 kW to avoid batteries, or plan the storage cost from the start. Our guide to hybrid inverter battery rules explains how storage is worked out.

Common-area solar or a share for each flat?

Three ways a Kerala apartment can use rooftop solar (rules from the KSERC 2025 regulations and MNRE guidelines).

The shared-plant route is covered in depth in our guide to virtual net metering for apartments and flats, including how units are split between flats. In short, Regulation 10.1(i) allows domestic consumers in multi-storied buildings, residential complexes or Residents' Association areas to set up a plant with energy storage of at least 20% of its generation potential, through a Lead person, and the common amenities connection can join as a participant.

Do not confuse this with group net metering. That route lets one consumer send surplus from a plant at one premises to their own other connections, which is why it suits a family with two houses more than a building of separate owners. Our group net metering guide explains where it fits.

A single flat owner installing on their own share of the terrace is a normal domestic case, but the roof belongs to all owners. Get the association's written consent and an allotted roof area before any installer starts. The KSEB application still runs on that flat's own connection.

What subsidy can an apartment association get?

Under PM Surya Ghar, Group Housing Societies and Residential Welfare Associations can get central financial assistance (CFA) of ₹18,000 per kWp for common facilities, including EV charging, up to 500 kWp, counted at 3 kWp per house (clause 5(h), table row 4). The cap is the lower of the plant size and 3 kWp times the number of houses. The capacity limit also includes any rooftop plants that individual residents have already installed (note below clause 5(e)).

Two conditions decide whether your building qualifies. The connection getting CFA must be dedicated only to common facilities and must not be used to supply electricity to individual flats (clause 5(f)). The CFA goes to the body that residents set up to maintain common facilities, which may be called an Apartment Owners' Association or a Cooperative Housing Society (clause 5(f)(i)). The panels must also be domestically made modules with domestic cells, or the plant is not eligible (clause 5(m)); see our DCR vs non-DCR panels guide.

For KSEB purposes, a Residents' Association means a body registered under the Travancore Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act, 1955, the Societies Registration Act, 1860, or another applicable law. An association registered by the owners, or owners and residents, of an apartment complex, housing colony or gated community also counts (Regulation 3(88)). Keep the registration certificate ready, because the committee will be asked who signs for the building.

Kerala example: a 24-flat building

Illustrative example: a 24-flat building in Kochi plans a 20 kW plant on the common-area connection, and the common connection has a connected load of at least 20 kW. The CFA cap is the lower of 24 × 3 = 72 kWp and the 20 kWp installed, so 20 kWp counts. At ₹18,000 per kWp under clause 5(h), the association's CFA works out to ₹3,60,000. MNRE's own example uses the same rule: 100 kW with 20 households gets ₹18,000 × 60 kW, or ₹10,80,000.

Because 20 kW is below the 25 kW trigger in Regulation 6.5, no battery is needed in this example. If the same building chose 30 kW, it would need a hybrid inverter with at least 10% storage, and its connected load would also have to be 30 kW or more. Check whether the local transformer has room before you settle the size; our page on KSEB feasibility and transformer hosting capacity shows how that is decided.

Committee checklist: steps to a decision

• Collect a year of bills for every common connection and list the loads each one runs.
• Get a roof survey that shows usable, shade-free space and what water tanks and lift rooms block.
• Decide the route: common-area plant, virtual net metering, or individual flat plants.
• Put the proposal, cost sharing and maintenance plan to the general body and record the resolution.
• Confirm who signs for the association and keep its registration papers ready.
• Compare registered vendors and agree on the design, warranty and service terms in writing.

The subsidy application follows the PM Surya Ghar process. An eligible consumer with a valid consumer account number applies on the national portal, which gives an application ID (clause 6(a) and (b)). The consumer then chooses a vendor registered on the portal and agrees the rates with them; there is no tendering by the DISCOM (clause 6(c)). For an association, that is the consumer account number of the dedicated common-area connection. Our PM Surya Ghar guide walks through the portal stages.

What the proposal pack should show

• Which connection the plant feeds, its consumer number and its connected load.
• Proposed plant size, and whether it stays at or below 25 kW or needs storage.
• Roof layout, shade report and structure type, with tanks and walkways marked.
• Expected CFA worked at ₹18,000 per kWp on the lower of plant size and 3 kWp per house.
• Confirmation that the modules are DCR and the connection serves common loads only.
• Vendor warranty, five-year maintenance terms and who residents call for faults.

If the building also plans EV charging in the parking area, include that load in the proposal, since common EV charging is part of the facilities CFA can cover; our EV charging sizing guide helps estimate it.

For the paperwork, our solar documents checklist lists what to keep ready. Want help with the proposal? FGE Solar offers a free bill and transformer check for the common meter, and a free site survey of the terrace, so your committee can vote on real numbers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official Sources and Accuracy Note

• 01KSERC (Renewable Energy and Related Matters) Regulations, 2025 (gazette PDF)
  Key takeaways, KSEB bullets: Reg 6.1(iv) common-area net metering band, Reg 6.6 connected-load ceiling, Reg 10.1(i) VNM route, Reg 3(88) Residents' Association.
  govt source · opened 2026-10-28
• 02MNRE Guidelines for PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, CFA to Residential Consumers (PDF)
  Key takeaways, subsidy bullets: clause 5(e) table row 4 and clause 5(h) rate for GHS/RWA, clause 5(f) dedicated common connection.
  govt source · opened 2026-10-28