The Union cabinet on Thursday approved the PM-Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana (PM-SGMBY) installing rooftop solar in one crore households nationwide with a total outlay of ₹75,021 crore.
Read here: Centre approves ₹75,000 crore solar rooftop schemes, 1 crore households to benefit
“Today cabinet meeting was held under the leadership of PM Modi. 'PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana' has been approved today, one crore families will get 300 units of free electricity under this scheme,” Union minister Anurag Thakur said while briefing the reporters.
The scheme, which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 13, aims to provide free electricity up to 300 units every month to the one crore households of the country.
"In order to further sustainable development and people’s wellbeing, we are launching the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana. This project, with an investment of over Rs. 75,000 crores, aims to light up 1 crore households by providing up to 300 units of free electricity every month," PM Modi said in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter).
{{/usCountry}}"In order to further sustainable development and people’s wellbeing, we are launching the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana. This project, with an investment of over Rs. 75,000 crores, aims to light up 1 crore households by providing up to 300 units of free electricity every month," PM Modi said in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter).
{{/usCountry}}As announced, the scheme, with a total outlay of ₹75,021 crore, provides every household a central financial assistance of ₹30,000 for 1 kw system, ₹60,000 for 2 kw system and ₹78,000 for 3 kW systems or higher. The governement will also develop a Model Solar Village in each district to act as role model for adoption of rooftop solar in rural areas.
Benefits:
The household with a rooftop solar panel would be able to save on electricity bills with the use of solar energy and could also earn an additional income through the sale of surplus power to DISCOMS.
Further, with the help of the scheme, there would be an additional 30 GW of solar capacity through rooftop solar in the residential sector nationwide and would result in a reduction of 720 million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) equivalent emissions over the 25-year lifetime of rooftop systems.
Additionally, the PM-Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana would create around 17 lakh jobs in manufacturing, logistics, supply chain, sales, installation, operations and management and other services.
How to apply?
An individual can apply for the PM-Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana and financial subsidy through national portal https://pmsuryaghar.gov.in/ and can select suitable vendor for installing rooftop solar. They can also avail the opportunity to access collateral-free low-interest loan products of around 7% at present for installation.
Read here: How to apply for rooftop solar scheme? Check step-by-step process
While announcing the scheme, the prime minister said that the substantive subsidies will be given directly to people’s bank accounts, and the central government will ensure that there is no cost burden on the people.
Centre's push for green energy:
The scheme to install solar panels was announced by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the interim budget for 2024-25. The rooftop solar initiative, which offers incentives for people to buy solar installations and feed energy back to the grid, could lead to savings of ₹15,000 annually, Sitharaman had said.
The allocation for solar (grid) for 2024-25 is a whopping ₹10,000 crore for the next financial year, against ₹4,970 crore in 2023-24. For wind power (grid), ₹930 crore has been allocated compared to ₹1,214 crore outlay in 2023-24.