The Telangana government is planning a major push toward green energy by installing rooftop solar panels on the houses of poor families across the state. In the first phase of the initiative, the government aims to install solar panels on 20 lakh houses by December at an estimated cost of Rs 24,000 crore.
Officials said the project is expected to cover all houses of poor families within the next two years. If successfully implemented, it would mark the first time in the country that a state government bears the entire cost of implementing a large-scale rooftop solar programme for economically weaker households.
The state government has requested Rs 12,000 crore in subsidy from the Centre under the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana and has also sought technical support to facilitate the rollout. Sources said the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has recently responded positively to the proposals.
Under the PM Surya Ghar scheme, the Centre provides subsidies for installing solar panels on one crore houses across the country. Beneficiaries receive Rs 30,000 for a one-kilowatt system, Rs 60,000 for two kilowatts, and up to Rs 78,000 for a three-kilowatt system directly in their bank accounts.
However, the Telangana energy department informed the Centre that this subsidy mechanism poses challenges for the state’s implementation plan. It has proposed installing solar panels on 20 lakh houses belonging to the poor category through private solar companies and requested that the subsidy amount be directly transferred to the accounts of these companies.
Solar panels are already being installed on about 40,000 houses on an experimental basis through private firms. Following the Centre’s indication that subsidy payments can be routed to companies, the state has requested approval to extend the model to 20 lakh households.
If approved, the installation of two-kilowatt solar panels on each house will cost an average of Rs 1.20 lakh per household. Out of this, Rs 60,000 will be provided as a subsidy to solar companies, while the remaining Rs 12,000 crore required for the project is proposed to be raised through loans.
Officials estimate that once installed, the solar panels across 20 lakh houses could generate about 1.60 crore units of electricity every day, assuming an average production of eight units per household daily. This electricity would be supplied to the power grid.
At present, power distribution companies (DISCOMs) purchase electricity at an average rate of around Rs 5 per unit. Based on this rate, electricity worth nearly Rs 8 crore would be fed into the main grid every day from these households free of cost, reducing the purchase burden of DISCOMs by around Rs 240 crore per month.
Currently, under the Gruha Jyoti Scheme, the state government provides 200 units of electricity per month free of cost to around 20 lakh households and reimburses DISCOMs approximately Rs 100 crore every month.
Officials believe that the installation of rooftop solar panels will not only eliminate this Rs 100 crore monthly burden but could also generate additional savings of about Rs 140 crore, significantly reducing the government’s expenditure on power subsidies while expanding renewable energy generation in the state.
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