TNI Bureau: The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy on Monday notified the guideline for the ‘Model Solar Village’ under the PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana.

Government of India will create one Model Solar Village per district across India, with the goal of promoting solar energy adoption and enabling village communities to become self-reliant in meeting their energy needs. A total financial outlay of Rs 800 crore has been allocated for this.

A village must be a revenue village with a population of 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 capacity installed on 6 months after the declaration of the potential candidate by District Level Committee.

The winning village in each district, with the highest renewable energy capacity, will receive a central financial assistance grant of Rs 1 crore.

The Government of India approved the PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana on 29th February 2024, with the aim to increase the share of solar rooftop capacity and empower residential households to generate their own electricity. The scheme has an outlay of Rs 75,021 crore and is to be implemented till FY 2026-27.