Even as the government is focusing on increasing the number of installations under the newly launched PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, the disbursal of subsidy to the households has somewhat been delayed. Moreover, of the 20 lakh applications received on the government portal by October, only 4.8 lakh installations have been done so far, according to data from Lok Sabha’s Standing Committee report.
As per the data, of the 4.8 lakh installations, subsidy disbursal has been done for only 2.8 lakh households i.e. 58.3% of the total installations.
“In between, there was a rainy season, when the momentum became a little less. But the average capacity is still around 3,000-3,500, which we can do on a daily basis,” the ministry has told the Committee. The government now intends to cross the target of about 12 lakh installations this fiscal year.
“As the number of this scheme increases, its growth will also increase at the same pace. Four-five months ago, there were about three and a half thousand connections, which has also increased to around nine thousand. Vendor registration, their training, their facilitation is a continuous exercise which we are doing,” the ministry said.
The new and renewable energy ministry in an earlier written response to the Parliament had said that it is coordinating with all stakeholders involved such as REC Ltd, discoms, vendors, etc to resolve any challenge for successful implementation of the scheme.
The Committee noted that the ministry should make concerted efforts to popularize the scheme further, especially highlighting its subsidy component so that large scale consumers are encouraged to adopt it.
The Committee also recommended that apart from households and government buildings, the ministry may consider including schools, hospitals, small industries and other institutional buildings within the subsidy component of the scheme. “This will not only increase the demand in the market but will also bring in private investments, encourage domestic manufacturing as well as create more job opportunities in the solar sector,” it said.
Before this scheme, the ministry had been implementing the Phase II Rooftop Solar program which has now been subsumed under the new scheme. Till date, the schemes for developing solar power have not performed that well, as against the solar potential of 748,990 MWp in the country, only 89,432 MW has been installed till August 31, as per the Committee’s report.
PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana was launched on February 13, 2024, with the aim of installing rooftop solar plants in one crore households. The total financial outlay for the scheme is Rs 75,021 crore and is to be implemented till 2026-27. For FY24-25, an allocation of Rs 13,175.33 crore has been made for the scheme.
The scheme is expected to generate about one lakh crore units of electricity and with reduction of 72 crore tonnes of CO2 emission.
Under the Budget Estimates during the year 2024-25, Rs 21,230 crore has been allocated to the new and renewable energy ministry, up around 170.51% over the Revised Estimate of Rs 7,848 crore for the year 2023-24. Additional funds have been provided for the implementation of PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana.
Under the scheme, Model Solar Villages are also to be set up in which one village would be selected in every district. The village which gets the maximum solarization in a six month period will get a central financial assistance of about Rs 1 crore. “This process has also been started. It has to pick up pace now,” the ministry said.
