NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved ‘PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana’ with a total outlay of Rs 75,021 crore for installing rooftop solar and providing free electricity up to 300 units every month for one crore households. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the scheme on February 13 this year. Addressing a press conference after a meeting of union cabinet, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said the initiative will give thrust to solar manufacturing and supply chain and provide direct employment to 17 lakh people. “It will strengthen solar energy eco-system. It is estimated that the scheme will create around 17 lakh direct jobs in manufacturing, logistics, supply chain, sales, installation and other services,” he said. The major highlights of the scheme include central Financial Assistance (CFA) for Residential Rooftop Solar. An official release said the scheme provides a CFA of 60 per cent of system cost for 2 kW systems and 40 per cent of additional system cost for systems between 2 to 3 kW capacity. “The CFA will be capped at 3 kW. At current benchmark prices, this will mean Rs 30,000 subsidy for 1 kW system, Rs 60,000 for 2 kW systems and Rs 78,000 for 3 kW systems or higher,” it said. The release said the households will apply for subsidy through the National Portal and will be able to select a suitable vendor for installing rooftop solar. The National Portal will assist the households in their decision-making process by providing relevant information such as appropriate system sizes, benefits calculator, vendor rating. Households will be able to access collateral-free low-interest loan products of around 7 per cent at present for installation of residential RTS systems up to 3 kW. A model solar village will be developed in each district of the country to act as a role model for adoption of rooftop solar in rural areas, The release said that urban local bodies and Panchayati Raj Institutions shall also benefit from incentives for promoting RTS installations in their areas. The scheme provides a component for payment security for renewable energy service company (RESCO) based models as well as a fund for innovative projects in RTS. “Through this scheme, the households will be able to save electricity bills as well as earn additional income through sale of surplus power to DISCOMs. A 3 kW system will be able to generate more than 300 units a month on an average for a household,” the release said. The proposed scheme will result in addition of 30 GW of solar capacity through rooftop solar in the residential sector, generating 1000 BUs of electricity and resulting in reduction of 720 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions over the 25-year lifetime of rooftop systems, it said. It is estimated that the scheme will create around 17 lakh direct jobs in manufacturing, logistics, supply chain, sales, installation, O&M and other services.
