Modal Solar Village Initiative

• Overview: The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has issued guidelines for the Model Solar Village component under the PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, approved in February 2024. This initiative aims to enhance solar rooftop capacity and empower residential households to generate their own electricity.
• Financial Commitment: The overall scheme has an outlay of ₹75,021 crore, with the Model Solar Village component allocated ₹800 crore, providing ₹1 crore for each selected village.
• Objective: The initiative focuses on establishing one model solar village per district across India, promoting the adoption of solar energy and enabling village communities to achieve energy self-reliance.
• Selection Criteria:
• Villages must be revenue villages with a population exceeding 5,000 (or 2,000 for special category states).
• The selection process is competitive, with villages assessed based on their distributed renewable energy (RE) capacity installed six months after being declared potential candidates by the district-level committee (DLC).

• Incentives: The village in each district with the highest RE capacity will receive a central financial assistance grant of ₹1 crore.
• Implementation: The State/UT Renewable Energy Development Agency will oversee the execution of the scheme, supported by the District Level Committee (DLC) to ensure effective transition to solar-powered communities.

This initiative is a significant step towards promoting renewable energy, enhancing community participation, and fostering sustainable energy practices in rural areas of India.