PM Surya Ghar: Govt Earmarks Rs 800cr For Model Solar Villages

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has now issued its notification for the rollout of its ambitious PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana. The ambitious scheme has planned to install rooftop solar panels onto one crore households with a financial output of Rs 75,021 crore.

The ministry in its detailed financial outlay said that it has also planned to dedicate Rs 800 crore alone for developing model solar villages in each district to showcase success stories of rooftop solar projects across the country.

“The sanction of the President of India is hereby granted for the PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, aimed at installing rooftop solar plants in one crore households, with a total financial outlay of Rs 75,021 crore including al scheme sub-components. The scheme was launched by the government of India on February 13, 2024,” the notification read.

As per the breakdown of the allocations for the rooftop solar scheme, out of the Rs 75,021 crore, the MNRE has allocated a total of Rs 1,314 crore for capacity building, awareness, and outreach programmes alone. This comes at a time when lack of awareness and capacity building are blamed as one of the reasons for the slower adoption of rooftop solar in the residential segment.

The central government will allocate Rs 65,700 crore for residential consumer subsidies and Rs 4,950 crore to the discoms (including the total expenditure made under the previous scheme).

Other allocations included incentives for local bodies (Rs 1,000 crore), model solar villages in each district (Rs 800 crore), innovative projects (Rs 500 crore), and a payment security mechanism (Rs 100 crore). This also included capacity-building funding of Rs 657 crore and awareness and outreach funding of Rs 657 crore. Another Rs 657 crore has also been earmarked as service charges.

With the president's final approval and the notification, the ambitious government scheme is now all set to boost the adoption of the residential rooftop solar segment with a revised budget and a major thrust from the Union government. The scheme was planned in the country when it failed to get the desired results earlier from residential rooftop solar. As per the MNRE data, India had 11 GW of rooftop solar capacity.