PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana

Topic: Energy Resources of India: Conventional and Non-conventional · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana is a central government scheme, launched in February 2024 with an outlay of ₹75,021 crore. It helps 1 crore homes put solar panels on their roofs and gives them up to 300 units of free electricity a month. The target year is 2027 [4].

• It matters because it moves solar power from big, faraway parks to ordinary homes. Families pay lower power bills, and India gets closer to its goal of 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 [1].

Explanation

How it works: sunlight to free power at home

• Cause → process → result:
• India gets strong sunlight on most days. Much of the country has about 300 clear (sunny) days a year.
• Photovoltaic (PV) cells (thin layers, usually of silicon) in the rooftop panels take in sunlight and turn it directly into electricity.

• The home uses this power itself, so it can get up to 300 free units a month [4].

• This is distributed solar. That means many small solar units are placed close to where the power is used, instead of in one big park.

• It uses roof space that is already there, so no extra land is needed. Large solar parks, by contrast, need wide areas of land.

Parts of the scheme

Part	What it means
Outlay	₹75,021 crore
Who benefits	Households: 1 crore homes by 2027 [4]
Benefit	Up to 300 free units of electricity a month [4]
Loans	Collateral-free loans (no security or property needed) from 12 public sector banks, at 6.75% interest, for loans up to ₹2 lakh [7]

Progress so far

• The scheme crossed 10.09 lakh installations on 10 March 2025 [5].
• By 3 December 2025 [6]:
• 53.54 lakh applications had been received.
• 19.18 lakh rooftop systems had been installed.

• These covered 23.96 lakh households, which is nearly one-fourth of the target.

• Grid-connected rooftop solar in India stood at 32.59 GW on 31 August 2026. This is the second-largest part of India's solar capacity, after ground-mounted plants (123.99 GW) [1].

Conditions and limits

• Daytime only: rooftop panels make power only during the day, and output peaks at noon. Output falls to zero in the evening, which is exactly when home demand is highest.

• This creates a need for battery storage and a strong grid.

• Imported parts: India has depended on cells and modules imported mostly from China.

• The PLI (Production-Linked Incentive) scheme pays companies extra for each unit they make in India. This helps build local module manufacturing.

• Cost for families: many homes cannot pay the upfront cost of panels. The cheap, collateral-free bank loans [7] are meant to solve this.

Where it occurs

• Where: all over India, on the rooftops of homes. It is a household scheme, not a farm or industry scheme.
• Who runs it: the Union (central) government, with loans given through 12 public sector banks [7].
• Year: launched in February 2024, with 2027 as the target year for 1 crore homes [4].
• Fit in the national picture: India's total solar capacity was 168.04 GW on 31 August 2026. Solar is India's largest renewable source, and rooftop solar made up 32.59 GW of that total [1].

Don't confuse with

• PM-KUSUM (2019): this scheme is for farmers. It covers solar pumps and small solar plants on barren or fallow farm land. PM Surya Ghar is for household rooftops, not farm pumps.
• Solar parks (e.g. Bhadla, Rajasthan; Pavagada, Karnataka): these are large, planned, ground-mounted sites far from cities, and they need wide land. PM Surya Ghar is small and spread out, on roofs, close to where the power is used.
• National Solar Mission (2010): this was the broad national mission to grow solar capacity. Its target was raised to 100 GW by 2022 in 2015. PM Surya Ghar is a newer scheme with one narrow aim: rooftop solar for homes.
• Floating solar (e.g. Omkareshwar, Madhya Pradesh): these are panels on floats on reservoirs. They save land and cut water loss through evaporation. PM Surya Ghar panels sit on house roofs.

Prelims Hooks

• PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana: launched February 2024, outlay ₹75,021 crore.
• Target: 1 crore homes, up to 300 free units a month, by 2027 [4].
• Trap: it is for rooftop solar on homes. Solar pumps for farmers come under PM-KUSUM (2019).
• Loans: collateral-free, from 12 public sector banks, at 6.75%, up to ₹2 lakh [7].
• Milestones: 10.09 lakh installations (10 March 2025) [5]. 23.96 lakh households covered by 3 December 2025 [6].
• Grid-connected rooftop solar was 32.59 GW (31.08.2026). It is second only to ground-mounted plants within India's solar capacity [1].

Mains Points

• Distributed solar for equity (GS-III): rooftop solar spreads the benefits of the energy transition to ordinary households.
• Homes get lower electricity bills, up to 300 free units a month [4].

• No new land is needed, so it avoids the land conflicts that large desert parks face, such as the threat to grassland habitat and the Great Indian Bustard in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

• Energy transition (GS-III): solar grew from 2.8 GW (2014) to over 168 GW (2026), and non-fossil sources are now over 54% of installed capacity [2][3]. Rooftop schemes such as PM Surya Ghar add capacity right where people use power, which helps the 500 GW by 2030 goal [1].

• Challenges and policy response: the main hurdles are daytime-only output, evening peak demand, dependence on imported modules and the upfront cost for poor homes.
• Response: battery storage and a stronger grid, local manufacturing through the PLI scheme, and cheap collateral-free loans [7].

Related concepts

• Solar energy
• Bhadla Solar Park
• Khavda Renewable Energy Park
• Floating solar
• PM-KUSUM

Read more

• Solar energy: potential, parks and schemes