Model Solar Village

About Model Solar Village: 

• It aims to create one Model Solar Village per district across India.
• Goal: With the goal of promoting solar energy adoption and enabling village communities to become self-reliant in meeting their energy needs.
• Funding: A total financial outlay of ₹800 crore has been allocated for this component, providing ₹1 crore per selected Model Solar Village.
• Criteria:
  • In order to be considered a village under the competition mode, a village must be a revenue village with a population size above 5,000 (or 2,000 for special category states).
  • The selection process involves a competitive mode where villages are assessed on their overall distributed renewable energy (RE) capacity installed 6 months after the declaration of the potential candidate by District Level Committee (DLC).
• The winning village in each district, with the highest RE capacity, will receive a central financial assistance grant of ₹1 crore.
• Implementation: The implementation of this scheme will be done by State/UT Renewable Energy Development Agency under the supervision of the District Level Committee (DLC).

Key facts about the PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana

• In this scheme, the central government will provide 300 units of free electricity per month to its beneficiaries by investing worth ₹75,000 crores.
• Target: It aims to light up 1 crore households.

Under the scheme, Urban Local Bodies and Panchayats shall be incentivised to promote rooftop solar systems in their jurisdictions.

Q1: What is renewable energy?

Renewable energy is energy derived from natural sources that are replenished at a higher rate than they are consumed. Sunlight and wind, for example, are such sources that are constantly being replenished. Renewable energy sources are plentiful and all around us.

Source: Government of India issues Operational Guidelines for Implementation of 'Model Solar Village’ under PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana