Govt issues guidelines model solar village scheme

The guidelines for the implementation of the model solar village scheme emphasize villages’ overall distributed renewable energy (RE) capacity installed six months after the declaration of the potential candidate by the District Level Committee (DLC).

The model solar village scheme, under the PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, was notified by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy last Saturday.

Under the scheme, emphasis is also laid on creating one model solar village per district across India, with the goal of promoting solar energy adoption and enabling village communities to become self-reliant in meeting their energy needs. A total financial outlay of Rs 800 crore has been allocated for this component, providing Rs 1 crore per selected model solar village, an official press release said.

In order to be considered a village under the competition mode, a village must be a revenue village with a population size above 5,000 (or 2,000 for special category states). The selection process involves a competitive mode where villages are assessed on their overall distributed RE capacity installed six months after the declaration of the potential candidate by the DLC.

The implementation of this scheme will be done by the state and Union Territory Renewable Energy Development Agency under the supervision of DLC, ensuring that selected villages transition effectively to solar-powered communities, serving as models for other villages across the country.

The government approved the PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana in February, with the aim to increase the share of solar rooftop capacity and empower residential households to generate their own electricity. The scheme has an outlay of Rs 75,021 crore and is to be implemented till 2026-27.