The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has constituted a mission directorate to implement the PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana to ensure the achievement of the goals and oversee the day-to-day operations.

The joint secretary in the MNRE in charge of the rooftop solar division will head the directorate.

The directorate will be responsible for issuing the program guidelines and amendments, coordinating with stakeholders, including program implementation agencies in the states and, issuing them advisories, and issuing orders for the release of funds to the national program implementation agency.

The mission directorate will coordinate with the state and central electricity regulatory commissions for rooftop solar-related regulations.

The directorate has been tasked with conducting and supervising monitoring and evaluation studies of the rooftop solar program.

The PM-Surya Ghar program aims to install rooftop solar in 10 million households. The program has an outlay of ₹750 billion (~$9.04 billion).

The program, announced by the Prime Minister in January, aims to reduce the electricity expenses of poor and middle-class households and make them energy self-reliant.

The government had also launched a national portal for registration of applications, uploading feasibility documents and project completion reports, and subsidy applications.

Mercom recently reported that the national portal’s instability and user unfriendliness have led to thousands of pending requests and frustrating installers and customers. Many rooftop solar installers said the MNRE portal had not been functioning properly for over a month, making it difficult to track the progress of applications or obtain approvals.

India installed 367 MW of rooftop solar capacity in the first quarter of 2024, a 10% drop from 406 MW in the previous and a 24% drop from 485 MW a year ago, according to Mercom’s Q1 2024 India Rooftop Solar Market Report.

Capacity additions for the quarter dropped as many residential consumers postponed their installations, anticipating the benefits of the PM Suryaghar: Muft Bijli Yojana. The program has doubled the central subsidy by ₹12,000 (~$144) to ₹24,000 (~$288) for systems between 1 kW and 3 kW.