Editorial: Solar targets off the mark

India has installed just 11 GW of rooftop solar capacity, of which only 2.7 GW is in the residential sector as against the potential of 637 GW

It is baffling that solar energy’s vast potential remains underexploited in a country like India which experiences sunny days for most part of the year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent announcement of an ambitious programme — Pradhan Mantri Suryodaya Yojana — to install rooftop solar systems on one crore houses underlines the importance of harnessing clean energy and gradually reducing dependence on fossil fuels. Although the 1-crore household target is new, the installation of solar systems on rooftops has been, in fact, an ongoing government programme for more than a decade. However, it is far behind the schedule. According to a report by CEEW (Council on Energy, Environment and Water), released in November last year, over 25 crore households across India have the potential to install 637 gigawatts of solar energy capacity on rooftops. However, India has installed 11 GW of rooftop solar capacity, of which only 2.7 GW is in the residential sector. Optimally harnessing solar energy is essential for India, which records 250-300 sunny days in a year. The government had launched the National Portal for Rooftop Solar in July 2022 with the aim of making it easy for residential consumers to apply for installation of the system, but the response has been lukewarm so far. As per an estimate, there are less than 10 lakh households in the country with a rooftop solar setup. The solar push is particularly vital for India’s villages, where the electricity supply remains erratic and last-mile connectivity is a challenge, despite the government’s claims that every village in the country has been electrified.

In 2014 itself, the NDA government had set a target of installing 100 GW of solar power in the country by 2022. This was a five-fold jump from the existing target at that time. About 40% of this capacity— 40 GW — was supposed to come from grid-connected solar rooftop systems. Though the installed solar power capacity in the country has risen rapidly over the past decade, the 100 GW target for 2022 has been missed by a long margin, and so has the target for rooftop installations. At the end of last year, the total solar installed capacity in the country reached only 73.3 GW. One of the reasons for failing to reach the target was the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. But even before that, the growth trajectory of solar power was not up to the mark. In the recent announcement, the Prime Minister spoke about launching a nationwide campaign to mobilise residential power consumers to adopt the system in large numbers. There is an urgent need to make the grid-connected solar rooftop power system affordable and manageable for residents, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas. This will not only benefit consumers but also help power distribution companies effectively handle peak loads and reduce transmission and distribution losses.

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