India is poised to significantly ramp up its rooftop solar installations, with Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi projecting the country will soon install 100,000 rooftop solar systems every four to five days. This represents a substantial acceleration from the current rate of one lakh installations every six days.
Speaking on the sidelines of the BRE Summit 2026, Minister Joshi highlighted the rapid progress under the PM Surya Ghar Yojana, a flagship scheme designed to provide up to 300 units of free electricity monthly to one crore households through rooftop solar installations by March 31, 2027. The ambitious program carries an investment of ₹75,000 crore.
PM Surya Ghar Yojana Sees Strong Uptake
As of November 2, the National Portal for Rooftop Solar reported robust engagement, with over 88.3 lakh applications received for the scheme. More than 55.3 lakh rooftop solar systems have already been installed, directly benefiting over 65.4 lakh households across the nation. Joshi expressed confidence that the government would continue to meet its rollout milestones and achieve the scheme's target as installation rates continue to improve.
Decentralizing India's Power Landscape
The minister also underscored the transformative impact of India's expanding rooftop solar ecosystem on the nation's power landscape. He noted a structural shift towards decentralized power generation, creating both new opportunities and challenges for utilities and grid operators.
"There was no decentralised power generation earlier. Now it is decentralised, so solutions will also come," Joshi stated, addressing concerns around grid stability, storage requirements, and balancing power supply from a growing number of distributed energy resources.
Joshi explained that the power sector is witnessing a fundamental change as households and farmers increasingly transition from mere consumers to active electricity producers, complementing traditional power plants. "Earlier, generation points were very limited. Now generation points are in thousands and lakhs. Every household can generate electricity, farmers are generating electricity and some are even selling power to discoms," he added.
Refining PM-KUSUM for Agricultural Solarization
Beyond the PM Surya Ghar Yojana, the government is also working on refining future phases of the PM-KUSUM scheme, which aims to boost solarization in the agriculture sector. Having rolled out nearly 30 lakh solar pumps under various components of the program, officials are learning from challenges encountered during earlier implementation phases.
Acknowledging concerns raised by stakeholders, including the agriculture ministry and state governments, Joshi confirmed that discussions are underway to address these issues. "When work begins at this scale, new issues emerge. Some concerns have come to our notice and discussions are underway. We will try to address the issues raised by farmers, state governments, the agriculture ministry and industry," he concluded.