NT Reporter Panaji
The Centre’s PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana (PMSGMBY) has delivered zero electricity bills to 798 power consumers in Goa as on December 9 this year, according to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
The ministry stated that a total of 1,304 power consumers in Goa have set up rooftop solar installations under the scheme, of which 1,110 consumers received central financial assistance amounting to Rs 8.8 crore. As many as 61 per cent of consumers who availed of the scheme have brought down their electricity bills to zero by shifting to environment-friendly renewable energy.
The Surya Ghar scheme aims to empower residential households to generate their own electricity. Rooftop installations are verified by engineers from the electricity department, who visit households to check the stability and viability of the project before granting approval. The solar power installations are expected to lower carbon emissions by 720 million tonnes over the 25-year lifetime of the installations.
The scheme offers low-cost electricity to residential consumers, with free electricity up to 300 units per month to 10 million households across the country. The scheme is applicable only to residential consumers. To be eligible, consumers have to fund the initial investment, and the solar system must be grid-connected with a valid power connection from the electricity department.
Further, the installation needs to be placed on the rooftop, terrace, balcony or on top of an elevated structure. Goa’s solar power generation capacity currently stands at around 76 MW.
As per information revealed by the Union government, the PMSGMBY scheme has been most successful in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
The scheme was launched in February 2024 with the aim of achieving rooftop solar installations in one crore households in the residential sector by 2026–27. It has an outlay of Rs 75,021 crore. To ensure economic profitability and cost-effectiveness for beneficiaries, apart from central financial assistance, collateral-free
loans at an interest rate of 5.75 per cent are available for installing rooftop solar systems.
