Context: Nearly a year after the Central Government launched the ₹75,000-crore PM Surya Ghar scheme, 8.5 lakh households have installed rooftop solar connections.
Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Scheme based questions and status of solar energy in India.
About PM Surya Ghar scheme
- PM Surya Ghar Scheme is to boost the proportion of rooftop mounted solar plants share in India to 40% of solar target of India i.e., 100 GW.
- Objectives of Scheme:
- Aim: To install rooftop solar panels in 1 crore (10 million) households across India.
- The scheme ensures up to 300 units of free electricity per month for households installing rooftop solar panels.
- Subsidy Details: Central Financial Assistance (CFA) will be provided, as follows:
- 60% of system cost (solar unit cost) for 2 kW systems
- 40% of additional system cost for systems between 2 to 3 kW capacity.
- CFA will be capped at 3 kW capacity.
- Assistance through National Portal:
- Households will apply for subsidy through the National Portal and will be able to select a suitable vendor for installing rooftop solar.
- The National Portal will assist the households in their decision-making process by providing relevant information such as appropriate system sizes, benefits calculator, vendor rating etc.
Major highlights of the scheme
- Central Financial Assistance (CFA) of 60% of system cost for 2 kW systems and 40% of additional system cost for systems between 2 to 3 kW capacity will be provided.
- The CFA will be capped at 3 kW.
- The households will apply for subsidy through the National Portal and will be able to select a suitable vendor for installing rooftop solar.
- The National Portal will assist the households in their decision-making process by providing relevant information such as appropriate system sizes, benefits calculator, vendor rating etc.
- Households will be able to access collateral-free low-interest loan products of around 7% at present for installation of residential Rooftop Solar (RTS) systems up to 3 kW.
Other Features of the Scheme
- A Model Solar Village will be developed in each district of the country to act as a role model for adoption of rooftop solar in rural areas.
- Urban Local Bodies and Panchayati Raj Institutions shall also benefit from incentives for promoting RTS installations in their areas.
Outcome and Impact
- Households will be able to save electricity bills as well as earn additional income through sale of surplus power to DISCOMs.
- It will result in addition of 30 GW of solar capacity through rooftop solar in the residential sector.
- It is expected to reduce 720 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions over the 25-year lifetime of rooftop systems.
- It is estimated that the scheme will create around 17 lakh direct jobs.
Status of Renewable energy in India
- India has shown an incremental trend in renewable energy, with a 200% rise in 10 years i.e., 72.52 GW in 2014 to 220 GW in 2024.
- In this Solar sector has cumulatively reached to 97.86 GW:
- Ground mounter 75.19 GW
- Grid rooftop solar plant 15.67 GW
- Hybrid project 2.77 GW
- Off-grid solar installation 4.23 GW.
Challenges and Suggestive measures for Solar Sector in India
| Challenges in Solar sector in India | Solutions and suggestive measures |
| Skewed distribution in the sector which is dominated by the Ground mounted centers leading to issues like: - Problems in land acquisition - High investment cost | Diversification of the sector: Sector needs to be diversified by enhancing decentralised solar plants with roof mounted and farm mounted solar plants. |
| Financing barriers: The solar plants are expensive creating additional burden on households | Providing subsidies to households to enhance installation by reducing the cost. Eg; PM Surya Ghar Scheme. |
| Dependence on imports: The solar sector depends on imported equipment like solar wafers leading to continuity challenges in price and supply chain. | India should invest on the permanent infrastructure for manufacturing of the solar wafers. Eg; Production Linked Incentives. |
| Intermittent energy generation: The solar energy is weather dependent challenging the continuity of the power challenging concept of sustainable power. | There should be an integration of various powers like hydro, wind and solar power for a sustainable and continuous energy supply. Eg; Green Grid initiative concept. |
Great article on the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana! At Bluebird Solar, we fully support this powerful initiative to bring clean and free electricity to Indian homes. As one of the leading solar module manufacturers in India, we're proud to contribute to the nation's green energy mission through high-efficiency DCR solar panels and rooftop solar solutions. Keep spreading awareness! 🌞