Residential rooftop solar installations cross 16,300 daily under PM Surya Ghar scheme: Pralhad Joshi
Daily residential rooftop solar installations under the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana crossed 16,300 a day in July 2026, more than three times the pace recorded in October 2025
The scheme has cumulatively commissioned about 14.8 GW of rooftop solar capacity and benefited over 50 lakh households
Around Rs 28,024 crore in subsidies has been disbursed directly to beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer, with about 19 lakh households now reporting zero electricity bills
The pace of installation growth was described as adding roughly one lakh new beneficiary households every six days
PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana
PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana is the Union Government's flagship rooftop solar scheme, launched on February 13, 2024, with the objective of providing free electricity to households by enabling rooftop solar installation with a capital subsidy, aiming to cover one crore households by March 2027.
Key Details
- Nodal ministry: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)
- Total scheme outlay: approximately Rs 75,021 crore
- Subsidy structure: up to 40% subsidy for systems up to 3 kW capacity, with a lower subsidy rate for additional capacity up to 10 kW; disbursed directly via DBT
- Beneficiaries can also access collateral-free loans at concessional interest rates for the balance system cost
- Complements the National Solar Mission's broader target of 500 GW non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030
The reported 16,300/day installation rate and 50 lakh cumulative households mark the scheme's fastest growth phase, tracking progress toward its March 2027, one-crore-household target — a benchmark UPSC could test as a scheme-monitoring data point.
India's Renewable Energy and Non-Fossil Fuel Capacity Targets
India's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), updated in August 2022 under the Paris Agreement, commits to achieving about 50% cumulative installed electric power capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030, alongside a 45% reduction in emissions intensity of GDP from 2005 levels.
Key Details
- Renewable energy target: 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based installed electricity capacity by 2030 (announced at COP26, 2021, as part of India's "Panchamrit" pledges)
- Rooftop solar is a distinct sub-segment from utility-scale (ground-mounted) solar; both count toward the 500 GW non-fossil capacity goal
- Net metering/gross metering policies, administered by State electricity regulatory commissions, govern how rooftop solar generation is credited against consumption
Accelerated rooftop solar deployment under PM Surya Ghar directly contributes to the decentralised, distributed-generation component of India's 500 GW non-fossil capacity target for 2030.
Distributed Renewable Energy and Net Metering Framework
Rooftop solar operates under a distributed/decentralised generation model, where the electricity regulatory framework — net metering or gross metering, administered under the Electricity Act, 2003 and State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) regulations — determines how much a household saves or earns from self-generated solar power.
Key Details
- Net metering allows a consumer's solar export to offset their grid consumption on a net basis, reducing or eliminating the electricity bill
- The Electricity Act, 2003 empowers SERCs to frame regulations for renewable energy purchase obligations (RPOs) and grid-connectivity of distributed generation
- Zero electricity bills reported by beneficiary households under PM Surya Ghar are a direct outcome of favourable net-metering credit against a correctly sized rooftop system
The scheme's reported outcome of nearly 19 lakh households achieving zero electricity bills illustrates the practical effect of net-metering regulation combined with capital subsidy in making distributed solar generation financially viable for households.
- Daily installation rate: 16,300+ (July 2026), up from 5,038/day in October 2025 — a 3.2x increase in nine months
- Cumulative beneficiary households: over 50 lakh
- Cumulative rooftop solar capacity commissioned: about 14.8 GW
- Subsidy disbursed via DBT: approximately Rs 28,024 crore
- Households with zero electricity bills: about 19 lakh
- Scheme launch date: February 13, 2024; total outlay: Rs 75,021 crore
- Scheme target: 1 crore households by March 2027
- India's non-fossil capacity target: 500 GW by 2030 (COP26 "Panchamrit" pledge)