The Government of India has announced the operational guidelines for the ‘Model Solar Village’ component under the PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy officially notifying the scheme on August 9, 2024. The initiative seeks to promote solar energy adoption and foster self-reliant communities by creating a Model Solar Village in each district across the country.
With a total financial outlay of ₹800 crore, the scheme will allocate ₹1 crore per selected Model Solar Village. The initiative is designed to encourage villages to adopt distributed renewable energy (RE) solutions, contributing to the nation’s goal of increased solar capacity and energy independence.
Villages eligible to participate in this competitive selection process must be revenue villages with a population size above 5,000, or 2,000 for special category states. The selection will be based on the village’s installed renewable energy capacity six months after being declared a potential candidate by the District Level Committee (DLC). The village with the highest RE capacity in each district will receive a central financial assistance grant of ₹1 crore.
The scheme’s implementation will be overseen by the State/UT Renewable Energy Development Agency, under the supervision of the DLC. The goal is to transition selected villages into fully solar-powered communities, setting an example for others to follow nationwide.
PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, approved by the Government on February 29, 2024, is a larger initiative aimed at increasing solar rooftop capacity and empowering residential households to generate their own electricity. The scheme has a significant financial outlay of ₹75,021 crore and is set to be implemented until FY 2026-27.
