Crest mobilises UT departments to promote rooftop solar adoption

Time of India

10 hours ago

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Chandigarh: Aiming to promote the use of solar energy in private homes, Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science and Technology Promotion Society (Crest) has initiated a big move under PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojna.
Crest plans to involve several departments of the Chandigarh administration to help spread awareness and encourage people to join this central government scheme.
In a detailed letter, Crest has asked the municipal commissioner, deputy commissioner, and secretary engineering of the UT administration to actively support the scheme. Their role will be to engage with residents and motivate them to install rooftop solar panels.
The goal of the scheme is to help one crore households across the country generate their own electricity using solar power by the end of the 2026–2027 financial year.
In its communication to the officials, Crest explained that the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) will soon brief field officers and promote experience-sharing on the scheme. Therefore, it is important to help people understand the scheme, its guidelines, and its goals.
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The letter reads that a video conference will soon be held by the ministry to brief field officers and encourage experience-sharing. Officers are expected to actively participate and come well-prepared with a good understanding of the scheme's guidelines and objectives.
Expansion is the challenge
According to the Chandigarh administration, CREST has already implemented the scheme on government properties in the city.
By installing solar panels on the rooftops of government buildings, the authority is generating around 20 megawatts (MW) of solar power under this scheme alone. The main challenge now is to expand the scheme to private buildings, which requires the consent of individual households. Currently, Chandigarh is generating a total of about 90 MW of solar power.
Resco vs PM scheme
Under the Resco model for private properties, which is still awaiting approval from the central government, consumers will not have to pay anything upfront.
A selected company will install solar panels on rooftops at no cost to the property owner. In return, the consumer will be charged Rs 3.95 per unit (kWh) of electricity generated. This rate will remain fixed for a BOT (build, operate, transfer) period of less than 20 years.
Out of this amount, Rs 0.07 per unit will be retained by the electricity department as facilitation charges, while the remaining Rs 3.88 per unit will be paid to the Resco company on a monthly or bi-monthly basis.
In contrast, under the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, the consumer is required to make an initial capital investment to install the solar panels. However, the government provides a subsidy to support this investment. For installations up to 2 kilowatts, a subsidy of Rs 30,000 per kilowatt is offered, totalling Rs 60,000. For the third kilowatt, an additional Rs 18,000 is provided. This means that for a 3-kilowatt system, the total subsidy amounts to Rs 78,000.
No more subsidy is given for systems above 3 kilowatts, as the maximum subsidy cap is fixed at Rs 78,000.
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