Many net zero buildings have been proposed in different parts of the world. However, there is an argument that an individual building is not the right scale to develop Net Zero Energy Housing. The neighbourhood scale has the potential to integrate not only individual building systems, but also multibuilding systems as well as of integrating neighbourhood geometry. This scale also offers opportunities for load sharing between buildings and diversity in functions. Inspite of India having a rich solar energy resource, there are no Net Zero Energy Neighbourhoods being developed. This paper tests the potential of three existing neighbourhoods in Ahmedabad, with different building typology and geometry, to achieve Net Zero Energy status by way of retrofitting Photovoltaic Technology. After a review of historical energy bills to assess the energy demand, the PVSyst software package (version 6.0) is used to test the potential performance of solar retrofits in the three different neighbourhoods. The results show that each of the three neighbourhoods can achieve Net Zero Energy status by retrofitting PV Panels. However, the investment cost and payback periods are prohibitive for the economic contexts of the three neighbourhoods. The paper further proposes neighbourhood scale retrofitting strategies. It also proposes government support policies, based on the neighbourhood scale, to overcome the cost limitations in achieving Net Zero Energy status.

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