The PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana has achieved around 8.6% of its three-year target of 1 crore households in the first year of implementation.
According to sources, 8,61,240 households have installed rooftop solar systems under the scheme as of January 29. This is 19% of the total applications received.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has received a total of 43,99,431 applications from interested parties, while total registrations have grown to 1.7 crore.
Total subsidy released under the scheme is Rs 4,966 crore out of the total Rs 78,000 crore marked under the scheme.
Industry experts believe the installations will pick further in FY26 and FY27. The first year was also marked by general and state elections that would not be the case in the next two years, experts believe.
Government had projected that the scheme will reach 10 lakh installations by March 2025, 20 lakh by October 2025, 40 lakh by March 2026 and 1 crore by March 2027.
There are always initial hiccups, but it stabilises as the plan progresses. The entire 1 crore households would mean 30 GW of module capacity, said Rupesh Sankhe, vice president and power sector analyst at Elara Securities.
Considering today's overall solar rooftop installed capacity of around 15 GW that was installed over the last 10 years, the scheme would require similar capacity for two years to achieve the target, Sankhe said.
Gautam Das, Founder and CEO - Oorjan Cleantech, advocates that lean processes, timely implementation, proper maintenance, and capacity building at the ground level will be critical for the long-term success of the scheme. “We at Oorjan are combining our flexible financing solutions to further accelerate the adoption of renewable energy programs.”
"What truly stands out to me is not the climate-smart technology or subsidy but the initiative's operative functioning which has made it an extremely easy, smooth, detailed and inclusive process for any common citizen with internet access to install a solar panel," said Arushi Sana, a panelist at International Solar Alliance.
“The Yojana seems to go beyond policy and is now an experience for us - from complete installation assistance to claiming subsidies and to enjoying free electricity for decades.”
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