BHUBANESWAR: The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has granted in-principle approval to the Odisha government for the implementation of the first tranche of 1.5 lakh installations of rooftop solar under utility led aggregation (ULA) model of the PM Surya Ghar - Muft Bijli Yojana.
The distribution companies of the state had proposed the ministry to approve three lakh installations in the first phase. The approval, however, came with riders and discoms have been asked to ensure adherence to the PM Surya Ghar implementation framework.
As per the directive of the ministry, all installations must be carried out strictly through the rooftop mode, including those under virtual net metering, which allows multiple electricity consumers within the same licensed area to benefit from a single, shared renewable energy system.
There will be no ground-mounted, elevated, community or aggregated systems on non-rooftop areas under the ULA model. This provision aims at ensuring that asset ownership remains with the consumer. The consumer contribution has been capped at Rs 5,000 per kW after factoring in the central financial assistance and the state contribution.
“If the tariff obtained through competitive bidding falls below the cumulative financial assistance, the difference will be adjusted from the consumer’s share, further reducing the burden,” the ministry stated in a communication.
The MNRE has mandated that all promotional materials must follow the official branding guidelines of the PM Surya Ghar, with no alterations allowed. The implementation process will be executed entirely through the PM Surya Ghar national portal. The state government has been asked to establish a robust monitoring system to enable realtime tracking of data of the installed systems on the portal.
The ministry has also made it clear that the sanction will be cancelled if work orders or execution agreements are not signed within six months from the final approval date. Once agreements are in place, the rooftop solar installation must be completed within six months, capping the total implementation period at one year. “No extensions will be granted under any circumstance. Once cancelled, the state will have to approach the technical committee for fresh approval,” it said.
Odisha can seek approval for the remaining 1.5 lakh installations only after successfully completing 75 per cent (pc) of the units approved in the first tranche under ULA mode and achieving 25 pc of it under the regular Capex mode. The MNRE will issue the final approval once the state government formally accepts these conditions.