Relevance (UPSC): GS-III – Energy & Environment; Infrastructure; Inclusive Growth

On a hot July afternoon, a new bidirectional meter in a Lucknow home spins backwards. The family’s rooftop plant is feeding the grid and the bill is shrinking. Multiply that story by one crore homes—that is the promise of the Prime Minister Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana. A new assessment of on-ground progress, however, shows the sprint is real but uneven.

Where we are (2025 Picture)

• Demand is high: applications have crossed about 57.9 lakh.
  
• Installations are rising: roughly 4,946 megawatt is on rooftops, helping about 16 lakh households.
  
• Money is moving: about ₹9,281 crore in subsidy has reached beneficiaries; new capacity adds nearly 44.5% of the country’s residential rooftop base.
  
• But delays persist: meter shortages, 45–120 day approval cycles, weak coordination among consumers, installers and distribution companies, and utility-level procedures slow the roll-out.
  
• Made-in-India push: Domestic Content Requirement panels (fully India-made) are encouraged; today they cost around ₹12 per watt more than imports, which pinches larger systems.

Rooftop solar matches daytime demand for homes, shops and pumps; cuts losses because power is made where it is used; creates local jobs for technicians and small firms; and, with good design, can lower bills for low-income families too.

What is working

A single national portal, empanelled vendors, standard one–three kilowatt packages, better bank tie-ups and strong on-ground execution are visible wins. The programme also fits the 2030 clean-power pathway while giving households savings today.

What are the Hurdels

1. Finance feels hard: even with subsidy, families struggle with loans, paperwork and collateral.
   
2. Rules change too often: caps on net metering or new charges make housing societies nervous.
   
3. Distribution company worries: noon exports can dent revenues unless incentives compensate.
   
4. Apartments and renters are stuck: shared roofs and no virtual net metering leave most city homes out.
   
5. Quality gaps hurt trust: poor earthing, leaky roofs and weak warranties scare new buyers.
   
6. Price gap in domestic parts: the “build at home” goal is right, but the near-term premium needs a bridge.
   
7. Grid fit is tricky: the midday solar bulge—the duck curve—needs storage and flexible use.
   

The way ahead — a people-first, grid-ready plan

1) Finance that follows the bill

• On-bill finance: add a small, fixed repayment line to the power bill; no separate loan visits.
  
• Priority-sector micro-loans: through Self-Help Groups and housing societies, with modest interest subvention.
  
• Pay-as-you-save models: third-party owns the plant; the family pays less than the old bill.
  

2) Fix meters and timelines

• A meter-manufacturing push with delivery guarantees; service-level agreements that energise every approved plant within 30 days.
  
• State-wise time-bound targets and weekly dashboards (applications, approvals, energisations).
  

3) Make apartments work

• Virtual or group net-metering so one building’s generation is credited across flats.
  
• Community solar gardens on public roofs (schools, bus depots) with credits to nearby renters.
  

4) Give distribution companies a fair deal

• Performance-linked incentives tied to rooftop additions and feeder-loss cuts.
  
• Time-of-day tariffs and smart meters so families shift use to sunny hours.
  
• Feeder-level planning to absorb noon exports without stress.
  

5) Lock in quality and safety

• Standard kits and long warranties, vendor scorecards in public, compulsory earthing and fire-safety checks before commissioning, and a quick-response grievance portal.
  

6) Close the price gap, build at home

• Temporary viability support for India-made modules and inverters; fast approvals under the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers; clear sunset dates so industry plans investments.
  

7) Plan for the grid we want

• Neighbourhood batteries, pilot peer-to-peer energy trading, and pairing rooftops with electric vehicles and heat-pump water heaters to soak up noon solar.
  

Key terms—

• Net metering: your bill reflects energy used minus energy exported.
  
• Net billing: exports get a credit at a set tariff; imports are billed at the retail tariff.
  
• Bidirectional meter: measures both import and export of electricity.
  
• Virtual net metering: one plant’s output is shared across many consumer meters—ideal for apartments.
  
• Domestic Content Requirement module: a solar panel made fully in India under policy rules.
  
• Duck curve: low noon demand from solar and a steep evening ramp, shaped like a duck’s belly.
  

Exam hook

Key takeaways

• India’s rooftop push is real—applications, capacity and disbursals are up—but last-mile execution is the barrier.
  
• The one-crore homes goal will unlock jobs and savings if finance is easy, meters arrive on time, apartments can share power, and distribution companies are incentivised, not punished.
  
• Pair rooftops with storage and time-of-day tariffs to tame the duck curve.
  

UPSC Mains question
“Rooftop solar succeeds when finance, metering and apartment rules are solved, not merely when subsidies rise.” Examine with reference to the one-crore homes programme. Propose a State-level blueprint covering on-bill finance, virtual net-metering, distribution company incentives and safety-quality enforcement.

UPSC Prelims question
Q. With reference to rooftop solar in India, consider the following statements:

1. Virtual net-metering allows energy from one rooftop plant to be credited to multiple consumer meters in the same building or feeder.
   
2. A bidirectional meter is essential for net-metering to work.
   
3. Domestic Content Requirement modules refer to panels fully manufactured in India and are currently cheaper than imported panels.
   
4. Net billing credits exported energy at a tariff that may differ from the retail tariff.
   Which of the statements given above are correct?
   Answer: 1, 2 and 4 only.
   

One-line wrap: Put finance in the bill, meters on time, sharing on rooftops, and storage on the lane—then one crore solar homes will become India’s brightest climate success.