Govt targets 75 lakh rooftop solar installations by December: Pralhad Joshi

Rooftop solar installations crossed 40 lakh in May, with the government targeting 1 crore households under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana by March 2027

The government is targeting to reach 75 lakh homes in the next seven months through December 2026 under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said.

 

Rooftop solar (RTS) monthly installations crossed 3 lakh in May this year, taking cumulative installations beyond 40 lakh. However, India still has a long way to go before achieving its target of reaching 1 crore households by March 2027.

 

At an event organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Joshi said that earlier installations were around 7,000 per month, but crossed 3 lakh in May. "On some days, more than 15,000 installations are being completed," he added. "Once one crore households are reached, adoption will continue on its own and no longer require constant government intervention," Joshi said.

   

As distributed renewable energy expands, challenges related to distribution infrastructure will increase. Santosh Kumar Sarangi, secretary, MNRE, said: "Our distribution networks and substations need to be augmented and the battery energy storage system at the distribution level and at the household level also needs to be augmented significantly."

 

RTS deployment is currently led by five states -- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala -- which together account for more than 70 per cent of national installed capacity. Sarangi urged major states such as Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal to pick up pace in the programme in the next couple of months.

 

"If we have a very smooth financing mechanism, then the entire vendor ecosystem and job creation opportunities in rural areas will sustain beyond this programme," Sarangi said.

 

Current installations are growing at a 13 per cent compounded monthly growth rate. "With this kind of growth, we would be touching close to 90 lakh installations by the end of March," MNRE Joint Secretary J V N Subramanyam said at the same event.

 

A study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), released during the event, revealed that 57 per cent of households surveyed were aware of the potential of RTS to generate electricity for homes in both rural and urban areas. However, the study suggested that conversion remains a challenge, requiring support for interested households to move from curiosity to application, financing, vendor selection and installation.

 

Rishabh Jain, fellow, CEEW, said, "The next step is to convert awareness into confident action by simplifying the adoption journey through clearer process support, better financing awareness and evidence-based communication."

 

The study also noted that 26 per cent of households surveyed that were aware but not interested said they would reconsider adoption if offered easier loan terms, such as concessional interest rates, longer tenures and collateral-free loans. The study estimated that improving awareness could unlock theoretical convertible demand of up to 66 GW.