India To Establish 1 Model Solar Village In Every Single District

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) in India has issued operational guidelines for the implementation of a Model Solar Village in each district of the country. This component is part of the PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana for which the administration has announced INR 750 billion financial outlay (see India Eyeing 30 GW Rooftop Solar Capacity With New Scheme). 

Literally translated, the Prime Minister’s Solar Home Free Electricity Scheme, the initiative has allocated INR 8 billion ($95.28 million) of the total budget to this Model Solar Village component. It comes with a provision of central financial assistance (CFA) grant of INR 10 million ($0.12 million)/model village.  

The target is to create one Model Solar Village in each district of the country with a population size of over 5,000 in the latest census.  

Villages in a district will be mobilized for installing distributed solar installing installations especially under the PM Surya Ghar scheme and other government schemes in a challenge mode.  

Once the challenge period is over, the villages will be assessed on the total distributed renewable energy capacity installed within their revenue border. The one with the highest cumulative capacity installed will be chosen as the Model Solar Village for that district. The competition period is 6 months after the potential candidate villages are declared.  

A District Level Committee (DLC) will be established for the overall monitoring, coordination and implementation of the scheme. It can converge funds from other sources such as corporate social responsibility (CSR), departmental funds, district level funds, and the like.  

According to the MNRE, this scheme will promote green and clean energy access to electricity in the villages, develop 24x7 solar-powered village covering all the households and public areas.  

Once the village communities become more self-reliant in meeting their energy needs and reduce their reliance on utility companies, it will act as a model for other villages to follow, according to the guidelines issued.    

Through the PM-Surya Ghar scheme, the government aims to provide up to 300 units of free electricity/month to 10 million households. It is part of the Indian government’s latest budget (see India PV News Snippets: MNRE’s FY 2024-25 Budget Allocation Up By 143% & More).