Solar panel scheme upgrade to help 10mn houses save 300 units

The government boosted a scheme to encourage people to install solar panels on their rooftops, showed details of the interim budget announced by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who also said the Centre will offer viability gap funding for certain wind energy projects, introduce mandatory blending of compressed biogas in natural gas products and strengthen the electric vehicle ecosystem in steps to towards India's commitments to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2070.

- Jayashree Nandi

Sitharaman was presenting the interim budget for 2024-25, as is the practice in a general election year when the full Union budget is presented later in July by an administration that has secured the electoral mandate. During the presentation, the finance minister outlined the government's broader theme of "Viksit Bharat", or that of a "prosperous Bharat in harmony with nature, with modern infrastructure, and providing opportunities for all citizens and all regions to reach their potential".

The minister mentioned the upgrade of the solar rooftops scheme announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January, which will help an estimated 10 million households save up to 300 units of electricity every month. The rooftop solar initiative, which offers incentives for people to buy solar installations and feed energy back to the grid, can also lead to savings of 15,000 annually, the minister said.

These measures, including nterventions that the minister did not specify for the EV industry, will also help companies, provide entrepreneurship opportunities for a large number of vendors for supply and installation, and create employment opportunities for the youth with technical skills in manufacturing, installation and maintenance.

The allocation for solar (grid) for 2024-25 is a whopping ₹10,000 crore for the next financial year, against ₹4,970 crore in 2023-24. The revised estimate for how much was will be spent on the scheme for the current 2023-24 financial year was ₹4,757 crore.

For wind power (grid), 1930 crore has been allocated compared to ₹1,214 crore outlay in 2023-24. The revised estimate for wind power (grid) was ₹916 crore.