PM announces solar rooftop scheme for 1 crore households
- The Prime Minister publicly announced a scheme to electrify one crore households with solar electricity.
Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana
- The scheme has the target of installing rooftop solar on one crore houses.
- Currently, there is no centrally compiled estimate of the number of households in India with rooftop solar installations.
- As of July 31, 2023, only 2.2 GW (1 GW is 1,000 MW) worth of rooftop installations were reportedly installed in Indian homes, according to information presented to the Lok Sabha.
- The government, since 2010, has been claiming to install 100 GW by 2022 — 60 GW from utility project (mega concentrated solar parks) and 40 GW from rooftop solar.
- So far, about 56 GW has been installed in the utilities (July 2023) and 12 GW in rooftops.
- Rooftop solar installations include panels in offices and homes.
- Of the nearly 12 GW of rooftop solar installations as of July 2023, about 87% are “non-residential”, according to a report by JMK Research.
- India has consistently added around 2 GW annually (rooftop) but most of these are in offices and buildings.
- Currently, the incentive structures are such that it benefits commercial entities more than individual houses (to install solar panels).
Prelims Takeaway
- Solar energy
- Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana