1,222 houses installed rooftop solar power plant under Surya Ghar scheme in Udupi district, says Poojary

Udupi-Chikkamagaluru Member of Parliament Kota Srinivas Poojary on Saturday said, of the 4,435 applicants for the Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana in Udupi district, 1,222 applicants have installed the system so far.

Chairing a review meeting of the scheme at Rajatadri, district office complex in Manipal, Mr. Poojary said 4,413 applications had received financial approval, while 1,592 applicants have selected vendors. As many as 1,135 applicants have already been provided the scheme subsidy, he said.

Mr. Poojary said the Surya Ghar provides free electricity by installing solar panels on rooftops at subsidised rates, and would significantly reduce the cost of electricity. He said solar energy under the scheme would help reduce energy consumption, thereby significantly benefiting households.

Additionally, they could earn income by selling the excess energy generated by the rooftop solar power systems to MESCOMs. An average of 3 kilowatts per month could generate more than 300 units of electricity. This would be a reliable source of energy and a potential source of income, he said.

Model solar villages

The MP said Kirimanjeshwara in Byndoor taluk, Kotathattu in Brahmavara taluk, Uppur in Udupi taluk, Majur in Kapu taluk and Nitte in Karkala taluk were selected as model solar villages in the five assembly constituencies of the district.

The challenge period for installing solar power units was fixed till December 31. So far, Kirimanjeshwar has installed 26 kW, Kotathattu 1,777 kW, Uppur 163 kW, Majur 13.88 kW and Nitte has installed 1,577.31 kW. The Mysore Regional Commission would review which villages have implemented the most solar power units and select one to present ₹1 crore award as a grant that paves for setting up a solar park in the village.

Mr. Poojary said the Surya Ghar is an ambitious project of the Central Government, through which the goal was to install free electricity through solar energy in one crore households across the country with an allocation of ₹75,012 crore.

Deputy Commissioner T. K. Swaroopa said Surya Ghar scheme helps reduce dependence on conventional energy, thereby reducing environment pollution. She said the administration would give more publicity to the scheme, thus helping people to implement the same.

Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Superintending Engineer for Udupi Circle Narasimha and others were present.