Gandhinagar: The state of Gujarat holds a leading position in India in the field of renewable energy. It ranks first in the country for installing solar rooftops in the residential category.

In 2019, the state government implemented the ‘Surya Gujarat’ scheme, which allows citizens to install solar panels on residential houses, reducing their electricity bills while contributing to the state’s electricity demand.

Discussing the Surya Gujarat Yojana, Gujarat Energy Minister Kanubhai Desai said, “Gujarat is in the first place in the country for installing solar rooftops. Since the implementation of this scheme, rooftop solar panels with a total capacity of 2,744 MW have been installed on more than 6.94 lakh residential houses. The state government has provided a subsidy of over Rs. 3,155 crore for solar panel installation. Additionally, customers saved Rs. 3,260 crore in electricity bills and earned an income of Rs. 330 crore from the sale of solar energy. To further promote solar rooftops in the state, the government has allocated Rs. 993 crore in this year’s budget.”

The Union government recently announced the “Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Muft Bijali Yojana” worth Rs. 75,000 crore, which aims to benefit one crore families by providing up to 300 units of free electricity. In Gujarat, more than 2.49 lakh applications were registered under this scheme. Among these, more than 1.45 lakh solar rooftop systems with a total capacity of 532 MW have been installed so far. Gujarat leads the nation in the implementation of the PM Surya Ghar Yojana, contributing 52 percent of the total installations.

The Ministry of Innovative and Renewable Energy, Government of India, applauded the efforts of the Gujarat government and promoted the Gujarat model to all discoms in the country, which was followed through the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana. Advanced planning for the purchase of bi-directional meters, an auto-monitoring system, a grievance redressal mechanism, and sound planning of the State Corpus Fund make Gujarat stand out from others. DeshGujarat