Gujarat, Maharashtra, UP lead rooftop solar figures | India News
New Delhi: Gujarat, Maharashtra and UP have emerged as leaders in rooftop solar installations, even as over 23 lakh rooftop solar systems (RTS) have been installed across the country in the last two years under the PM Surya Ghar: Mufta Bijli Yojana.Launched on February 13, 2024, with a financial outlay of Rs 75,021 crore, the scheme aims to install RTS in one crore households by March 2027. The Center provides one-time financial assistance of up to Rs 78,000 per family, while several states provide additional subsidies.According to the national portal, 23,68,383 systems with an aggregate capacity of about 8,691 MW have been installed till February 13 this year. The government released Rs 16,932.4 crore in subsidy.Under the scheme, a 3-kilowatt solar plant can produce about 300 units of electricity per month – enough to reduce the bill to zero if consumption is within that range. More than 12.5 lakh customers have received zero electricity bill at least in one month since its launch.The number of installations is estimated to be around thirty million if state level subsidy programs are included.Gujarat leads with around 5.6 lakh installations, followed by Maharashtra (4.5 lakh), UP (3.7 lakh) and Kerala (1.9 lakh). Adoption remains low in the Northeast: Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura together have only 4,174 installations. Delhi, Goa, West Bengal and Chandigarh also recorded marginal numbers with 6,209, 1,721, 1,265 and 1,050 installations respectively.The government admits that nearly three-fourths of the installations are concentrated in 1011 states. Many states are yet to notify virtual net-metering guidelines that allow customers to feed surplus energy into the grid and pay for it. “It is a model of customer-first approach. It has become very popular,” said JVN Subramaniam, Joint Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
