PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana UPSC Notes: Features, Impact & More

PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana is a government scheme that aims to provide free electricity to households in India. The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 15, 2024. Under the scheme, households will be provided with a subsidy to install solar panels on their roofs. The subsidy will cover up to 40% of the cost of the solar panels. The scheme is expected to benefit 1 crore households across India. It is estimated that the scheme will save the government Rs. 75,000 crore per year in electricity costs.

The scheme is important from UPSC Civil Services Examination point of view as it is part of the government schemes as well as its implications on protection of environment viz. a significant part of General Studies II and General Studies- III respectively.

About PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana

PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana is a government scheme that aims to provide free electricity to households in India. The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 15, 2024.The government has issued operational guidelines for the implementation of incentives to DISCOMs under the PM-Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana.

Features of PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana

These are the following significant feature of PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana which is a kind of free electricity scheme:

• Solar Panel Subsidy and Other Subsidies: Originally intended to fully subsidise installation of 1-3 Kilowatt (KW) solar systems in 1 crore households, the scheme now offers up to 60% coverage of costs, with households required to cover the remainder, albeit with accessible loans.
• Model Solar Village: It will be developed in each district of the country to act as a role model for adoption of rooftop solar in rural areas.
• Incentives to Local Bodies: Incentives for Urban Local Bodies and Panchayati Raj Institutions for promoting rooftop solar (RTS) installations in their areas. 
• National Portal: It will facilitate households to apply for subsidies and select a suitable vendor for installing rooftop solar. 
• Beneficial for Panchayati Raj Institutions & Urban Local Bodies: Urban Local Bodies and Panchayati Raj Institutions shall also benefit from incentives for promoting rooftop solar (RTS) installations in their areas.

Impact of PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana

These are the following possible outcomes and impact of PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana:

• Through PM-Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, the households will be able to save electricity bills as well as earn additional income through the sale of surplus power to DISCOMs.
• A 3-kW system will be able to generate more than 300 units a month on average for a household.
• The proposed scheme will result in the addition of 30 GW of solar capacity through rooftop solar in the residential sector, generating 1000 BUs of electricity and resulting in a reduction of 720 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent emissions over the 25-year lifetime of rooftop systems.
• 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.

Challenges For Scaling Up Solar Rooftop System 

The path of achieving desired targets of rooftop solar isn’t easy as it has many challenges. These are some of the challenges:

• Grid Integration: Grid stability, and energy storage due to variability and unpredictability of solar energy.For example, climatic factors (temperature and solar irradiation) directly affect solar power generation.
• Costing: Lack of Research & Development, modern development facilities, and manufacturing infrastructure impact the development of solar panels, equipment, and inverters. This further leads to increased imports from other countries, thereby increasing the cost of the system. 
• Financially Strained DISCOMs : Rooftop solar systems reduce the bill generated by high-paying consumers for the DISCOMs; hence, their participation in promoting the system is low.
• Low Net Metering: Poor and piecemeal implementation of net metering policies at the sub-national scale is a major roadblock to the uptake of rooftop solar in India.
• Lack of Awareness: There is a general information asymmetry and, lack of knowledge about specific products, processes, and approval systems inherent with solar rooftop systems.

Read more about KUSUM Scheme!

How to Make PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana More Effective?

Some efforts are required to achieve the aims and objectives of PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana more effective and efficient such as:

• Time-bound approval and commissioning processes for deployment of solar rooftop.
• Third-party inspectors from reputed, empanelled, and inspection agencies to address grid integration challenges.
• Improving Grid Infrastructure by increasing grid availability and quality in semi-urban and rural areas, especially during peak sunshine hours.
• Modifying the net metering policies and removal of capacity constraints.
• Single-window facility for the entire ecosystem of rooftop PV deployment.

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