The government will soon announce a utility-led program under the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana to enable households without suitable rooftop space to benefit from the program, Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi said.

He was speaking before presenting the Mercom India Awards at the Mercom India Renewables Summit 2025.

Joshi said 1.72 million rooftop solar systems have been installed under the PM Surya Ghar program as of date. “These numbers reveal the real progress on the ground.”

Listing out India’s achievements in the energy transition, he said the country had already met 50% of the target of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based renewable energy capacity, five years ahead of schedule. “The 500 GW goal is not merely a slogan, we will achieve it.”

India now has the second-lowest levelized cost of energy globally, he said. He also referred to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency, which highlighted the Prime Minister’s vision for renewable energy had saved ₹4 trillion (~$46.3 billion) in monetary value and prevented 400 million tons of carbon emissions, the Minister said.

Joshi said while India had achieved much in the renewable energy sector, there were some challenges for which the government was taking suitable measures. He referred to the need for modernizing the electricity grid to integrate rising solar and wind energy.

“We will do whatever it takes to have a modernized, flexible grid including the use of Artificial Intelligence,” he said.

Joshi said the ministry was having zonal review meetings with chief ministers, energy ministers, and distribution companies. Every state has now been made accountable to meet the Renewable Consumption Obligation.

Work was also going on to augment the capacity of the transmission and distribution network. On energy storage, he said battery energy storage system (BESS) was now a core renewable energy component. A viability gap funding (VGF) for 30 GWh of BESS capacity had been approved, he said.

Joshi said the government’s goal is make India a global manufacturing hub of clean energy by integrating all components of the solar supply chain from polysilicon to modules. To promote domestic manufacturing further, solar cells will be brought under the ambit of the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers from July next year.

The minister said a lot of research and development work was going on in the solar sector, with the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay and the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru working on improving the efficiency of perovskite solar cells. “The initial results of the research are good.”

“Enhancing the efficiency levels of perovskite solar cells to 29% and above will reduce the requirement of land for solar projects,” he said.