Off-grid and hybrid solar with batteries
A hybrid solar system gives you backup during a power cut and cuts the electricity bill; an off-grid system does the same job with no grid connection at all. Both cost more than on-grid solar because of the battery, and the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana subsidy is paid on the solar capacity only: ₹78,000 at 3 kW plus the Delhi or Uttar Pradesh top-up, and nothing on the battery. Verde Solaire's June 2025 explainer put the hybrid or battery add-on for a 3 kW home at ₹1 lakh to ₹1.5 lakh on top of the on-grid price of ₹1,99,000 to ₹2,10,000.
For most homes in Delhi NCR the order is on-grid first and backup second, and this page is about the second part: which system does what, when a battery earns its cost, how to size it, and what a hybrid quote must say. If you are still weighing solar against the inverter battery you already own, start with rooftop solar or an inverter battery.
On-grid, hybrid or off-grid
| On-grid | Hybrid | Off-grid | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grid connection | Yes, through a net meter | Yes, through a net meter | None |
| Battery | None | Yes, sized to the backup circuits | Yes, sized to run the whole house overnight |
| Backup in a power cut | No; the inverter shuts down when the grid fails | Yes, for the circuits wired to it | Yes; there is no grid to lose |
| Cuts the electricity bill | Yes, through net metering | Yes, through net metering | There is no bill |
| PM Surya Ghar subsidy | Yes, on the solar capacity | On the solar capacity only; nothing on the battery | None |
| Cost | Lowest; roughly halved by the subsidy at 3 kW | On-grid price plus the battery and hybrid inverter | Highest; a battery bank large enough for night and cloud |
| Maintenance | Panel cleaning | Panel cleaning plus battery care and replacement | Panel cleaning plus a larger battery bank to care for and replace |
| Suits | Homes in Delhi NCR and Varanasi with a reliable supply | Homes with long or nightly cuts, or a load that must not stop | Farmhouses, remote sites and buildings with no connection |
Restated in plain language from Verde Solaire's May and June 2025 posts on on-grid, off-grid and hybrid systems; not a price list.
One point decides everything else. An on-grid system needs no battery because the grid does the storing: the day's surplus goes out through the net meter and comes back at night as credit. In Delhi, credits roll over month to month, and any surplus left at the end of the financial year is paid at the DISCOM's average power purchase cost. In Uttar Pradesh, under the UPERC rooftop solar regulations of 2019, residential users may choose net or gross metering, and the DISCOM allows capacity within transformer limits. A battery only earns its place when the grid is not there, which in a city means during a cut.
What the subsidy covers, and what it does not
Eligibility for the central scheme is an Indian citizen who owns a house with a suitable roof, has a valid electricity connection and has not taken an earlier solar subsidy. The valid connection is not a formality: the scheme is built around net metering, and the subsidy is calculated per kilowatt of panels, ₹30,000 per kW for the first 2 kW and ₹18,000 for the third, capped at ₹78,000. Delhi adds up to ₹78,000 (3 kW) and Uttar Pradesh up to ₹30,000 per consumer, on top of the central subsidy.
Three things follow, and Verde Solaire's own May and June 2025 posts say each of them plainly. The battery is not subsidised, whatever its size. A hybrid system is subsidised on its solar capacity, so a 3 kW hybrid in Noida receives the same ₹1,08,000 as a 3 kW on-grid system, and the battery is paid for in full by you. An off-grid system has no net meter, so it receives no subsidy at all.
The equipment rules do not change with the inverter type. For a subsidised system both the modules and the cells must be made in India, and for net-metering systems commissioned from 1 June 2026 the cells must be on ALMM List-II. The hybrid inverter model also has to be the one named in the electricity board's feasibility approval, which is why a change of mind after installation costs more than a decision before it.
When backup makes sense in Delhi NCR
Verde Solaire's published advice for Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad and Varanasi is that supply is "mostly stable", so the recommended route is on-grid with net metering and the subsidy, with batteries added "only if frequent power cuts are a concern".
A hybrid earns its extra cost in two situations. The first is a street where the summer cuts run for an hour or more most evenings, when the air conditioners are on and the panels are not. The second is a load that must not stop: a home office, a lift, medical equipment, a shop's refrigeration. Off-grid belongs to a third, a site with no connection at all, and to nothing else in a city, because a battery bank large enough to replace a grid you already have is the most expensive way to own solar.
No published source counts cuts by locality in Delhi NCR, so the measurement is yours. Keep a note for one summer month of the date, start time and length of every cut. Two short cuts a month is an inverter-battery problem, and the one you own is probably enough. An hour most evenings is a hybrid problem, and the note becomes the sizing brief.
Sizing the battery for essential loads only
The cost of a hybrid is decided by one choice: which circuits go on backup. A battery sized to run the whole house is an off-grid battery with a grid attached, and it is priced like one. A battery sized to the essential loads is a fraction of that.
The arithmetic is short. List the appliances that must run in a cut, with their wattage and the hours you need. Lights, ceiling fans, a router and a refrigerator come to about 400 W, and four hours of that is 1.6 kWh. Lead-acid batteries are designed to use about half their nominal capacity each cycle, so that load needs roughly 3 kWh of nominal storage, which is two 150 Ah batteries in a 24 V bank. Lithium discharges deeper and can be smaller for the same job, at a higher price per kWh. A 1.5 kW air conditioner on the same circuit would empty that lead-acid bank in a little over an hour, which is why the air conditioner is the first question an engineer asks.
The hybrid inverter is sized to the largest load that will start while the grid is down, not to the panel capacity. Every figure here is an assumption for the example; on the survey the engineer measures your appliances and writes the real ones into the design.
What it costs
Verde Solaire's published figures are from 2025 and are indicative; the written quote after a survey is the price. A 3 kW on-grid system was published at ₹1,99,000 to ₹2,10,000, which nets to ₹91,000 to ₹1,02,000 in Noida and ₹43,000 to ₹54,000 in Delhi after subsidy. The June 2025 explainer put the hybrid or battery add-on for that 3 kW home at ₹1 lakh to ₹1.5 lakh, and a 5 kW off-grid system with batteries at ₹3.5 lakh to ₹4.5 lakh. The May 2025 post put a 3 kW off-grid system with batteries at ₹2.5 lakh to ₹3.2 lakh, with no subsidy.
The battery's capacity and chemistry decide where in those ranges a quote lands, and the battery is the one part of the system that will be replaced within the life of the panels. Treat its cost as the price of backup, judged against a generator or the inverter battery you own, and keep the solar arithmetic separate: the panels and the subsidy pay back on their own, the battery does not. The 3 kW page has the on-grid figures for every city.
What Verde Solaire supplies and installs
Verde Solaire installs home systems from 1 kW to 50 kW and is a registered PM Surya Ghar vendor in both Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, so the solar part of a hybrid system goes through the same portal and net-metering route as any subsidised installation. The company is an authorised solar solutions partner of Luminous, and every quote names the make and model of the panels, the inverter and the battery, which is what lets you check the bill of materials against the words used on the phone. The inverter page explains how a hybrid inverter differs from an on-grid one, and the battery page covers lead-acid against lithium.
The work runs in the same order for every home. An engineer visits, and Verde Solaire offers a free site evaluation and no-obligation proposal. You agree the list of backup circuits and the hours they must run. The design fixes the panel capacity to your bills, the battery to that list and the hybrid inverter to the largest load. For a hybrid system the net-metering application names that inverter, and the installation, inspection and commissioning follow the nine steps. For an off-grid system there is no application, and commissioning is a load test with the grid absent.
How to read a hybrid quote
Backup is the part of a solar sale most often promised in speech and absent on paper, because a standard on-grid quote has no line for it. Ask for five things in writing before the advance: backup during a power cut, yes or no; the battery's make, model and capacity in kWh; the circuits it carries and the hours it is designed for; which part of the price the subsidy applies to; and the hybrid inverter model, matching the feasibility approval. A quote that lists an on-grid string inverter and no battery gives no backup, whatever was said. The before you pay the advance checklist has a line for each.
Assumptions and limits
Cost figures are Verde Solaire's own posts of 28 May 2025 and June 2025 and are indicative only; the subsidy figures are as published by PIB and MNRE and in the BSES Rajdhani FAQ of September 2025. The battery sizing example uses assumed loads and a lead-acid rule of thumb that the survey replaces with measured values. Battery warranty terms and workmanship warranty years have not been published by the company and are not stated here. No source counts power cuts by locality in Delhi NCR, which is why this page asks you to keep your own record.
Questions people ask
Start with a clear plan for your savings
Get a free roof assessment and a written quote for branded equipment. We will also explain the loan, installation, net-metering and subsidy steps.