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					</table><p>The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (<a href="https://mnre.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MNRE</a>) has invited comments and suggestions on the draft guidelines for implementing the PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana in the residential rooftop solar sector. The last date for receiving the comments/suggestions is April 23, 2024.</p>
<p>The Government of India <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/pm-surya-ghar-to-offer-%e2%82%b978000-for-3-kw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched</a> the program on February 13, 2024. It aims to install rooftop solar projects in ten million households at a cost of ₹752.01 billion (~$ $8.9 billion).</p>
<p>The previous Phase II of the grid-connected rooftop solar program will be subsumed under the current program, along with the remaining financial outlay and liabilities, effective from the program&#8217;s launch.</p>
<p>The financial outlay for the program <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/housing-societies-new-rooftop-solar-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener">includes</a> nine sub-components.</p>
<p>The program would be implemented through the National Portal.</p>
<p>The breakdown of central financial assistance (CFA) is as follows:</p>
<ul>
<li>Residential sectors with a tender capacity of up to 2 kW or part thereof will receive 60% of the benchmark cost of 2 kW.</li>
<li>Additional tender capacity in the residential sector (up to 1 kW) will qualify for 40% of the benchmark cost of the additional kW.</li>
<li>No additional CFA will be provided for residential sectors beyond 3 kW.</li>
<li>Group housing societies and residential welfare associations (GHS/RWA) for shared facilities, including EV charging, up to 500 kW [@₹3 (~$0.035)/kW per house], are eligible for 40% of the benchmark cost of additional kW.</li>
</ul>
<p>Based on the benchmark cost for FY 2023-24, rooftop solar projects up to 2 kW in households receive ₹30,000 ($361.85)/kW or part thereof, while additional capacity between 2 kW and 3 kW is eligible for ₹18,000 ($217.12)/kW. GHS/RWA will receive ₹18,000 ($217.12)/kW as central financial assistance.</p>
<p>The funds for the CFA and other disbursements related to the program will originate from the budget designated for the rooftop solar phase II program until a separate budget is allocated for it.</p>
<p>The program will be implemented until March 31, 2027, when all claims must be settled.</p>
<p><strong>Eligibility </strong></p>
<ol>
<li>For the purpose of CFA, a residential rooftop solar project must be the grid-connected solar power system tagged to a particular residential power connection of the local DISCOM. It will only include installations on a roof/terrace/balcony/elevated structures.</li>
<li>The CFA should be irrespective of the size of the inverter installed. If a consumer installs a rooftop solar project with a higher/lower-rated inverter capacity than the number of modules, the CFA provided will be as per the rated DC capacity of the module system (according to the CFA structure) and not as per the inverter capacity.</li>
<li>To be eligible for the CFA, solar modules used in the installation must satisfy the Domestic Content Requirement condition, i.e., domestically manufactured modules manufactured from domestically manufactured cells.</li>
<li>A rooftop solar installation by residential consumers/RWAs that have availed CFA under the prior/current program for rooftop solar by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and have subsequently increased the RTS installation size will be eligible for additional CFA under the current program only the balance capacity up to 3 kW of overall RTS project size.</li>
</ol>
<p>Suppose a household previously installed a rooftop solar system of 1 kW capacity under the Phase 2 grid-connected rooftop solar program and received a subsidy of ₹14,588 ($174.26) and later increases the total capacity to 4 kW. In that case, it can claim additional subsidy only for the additional 2 kW capacity under the current program, amounting to ₹48,000 ($573.42).</p>
<p>Similarly, suppose a household initially installs a 1 kW system and receives a subsidy of ₹30,000 ($358), subsequently expanding the total capacity to 4 kW. In that case, it can claim additional subsidy only for the additional 2 kW capacity, totaling ₹48,000 ($573).</p>
<p>A rooftop solar installation can receive CFA only once after installation. If an already installed rooftop solar system is relocated to a new location, it will not be eligible for CFA under the program.</p>
<p>The program aims to assist in installing grid-connected rooftop solar projects in the residential sector by providing central financial support from the government. However, no CFA will be extended to non-residential segments of consumers, including the government, commercial, and industrial sectors.</p>
<p>Vendors must register on the National Portal, where they can specify their operational states and districts.</p>
<p>Upon registration, vendors must submit a bank guarantee according to the type of registration:</p>
<p>For state-based vendor registration, each state or union territory requires a bank guarantee of ₹250,000 (~$2,989).</p>
<p>For national vendor registration, a bank guarantee of ₹2.5 million (~$29,892) is required for all States/Union Territories.</p>
<p>As vendors install capacity through the National Portal, the bank guarantee requirement will be adjusted based on the installed capacity:</p>
<ul>
<li>For installations ranging from 0 to 200 kW, the existing initial bank guarantee will apply.</li>
<li>For installations between 200 kW and 1,000 kW, a bank guarantee of ₹1.5 million (~$17,933) will be required.</li>
<li>For installations between 1000 kW and 5,000 kW, a bank guarantee of ₹5 million (~$59,773) will be required.</li>
<li>For installations exceeding 5000 kW, a bank guarantee of ₹10 million (~$119,547) will be required.</li>
</ul>
<p>Vendors can respond to beneficiaries&#8217; expressions of interest, manage their project portfolios, showcase offered rooftop solar systems with pricing details, display their history of completed projects, and provide other relevant information for the beneficiaries&#8217; benefit.</p>
<p>The implementing agency (State DISCOM or designated agency), MNRE officials, or any other authorized agency may conduct inspections of ongoing installations or installed plants.</p>
<p><strong>Technical Specifications</strong></p>
<p>A rooftop solar system should include components such as solar photovoltaic modules, inverter/microinverters, module mounting structures, energy meters, array junction boxes, DC distribution boxes, AC distribution boxes, protections—earthing, lightning, surge, cables, drawings and manuals, and any other necessary components based on site requirements.</p>
<p>Projects must be commissioned according to technical specifications published by MNRE.</p>
<p>Vendors will be responsible for any deficiencies or negligence/malpractice leading to bank guarantee encashment, profile deactivation, vendor blacklisting, or other disciplinary actions.</p>
<p>Vendors must rectify any deficiencies in the system that result in non-disbursal of CFA or non-commissioning by the DISCOM due to quality/component issues.</p>
<p>A prerequisite for CFA eligibility is using domestic modules manufactured from domestic cells as per domestic content requirements. No CFA will be disbursed if this requirement is not met.</p>
<p>MNRE may periodically notify the approved list of modules and inverters eligible for CFA based on specified technical criteria to prevent vendors from supplying poor-quality equipment.</p>
<p>Vendors must use one of these approved modules and inverters in all projects installed under the scheme.</p>
<p>Original equipment manufacturers (OEM) of enlisted inverters must share generation data reporting from their systems via API integration with the National Portal.</p>
<p>Data generated and transmitted by these inverter systems should be integrated with the National Portal to enhance services for beneficiaries.</p>
<p>Registered vendors must provide repair/maintenance services free of charge for five years from the commissioning date.</p>
<p>Consumers undertaking installations by bearing the capital expenditure, either by themselves or through the assistance of a bank loan and the upfront payment made to a registered vendor, will be considered projects undertaken in CAPEX mode.</p>
<p>All CFA requests for such projects must be made on the National Portal.</p>
<p>Non-performing/under-performing PV panels will be replaced free of charge during the warranty period. Beneficiaries will receive specified warranties from OEMs on system components for any future replacement of malfunctioned components.</p>
<p>Both beneficiaries and vendors have the option to raise grievances through the National Portal. These grievances will then be directed to the State Implementation Agency for resolution via a two-tier escalation matrix.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gautamee Hazarika</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
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<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gautamee,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee.</a><br />
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<a href="gautamee@mercomindia.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gautamee@mercomindia.com</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">Gautamee</a> is a reporter at Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Gautamee was working as a multimedia news journalist at ThePrint in New Delhi. She has received her Bachelors in English Honors and Masters in English Literature from St.Stephen&#8217;s College, University of Delhi.<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee</a></div>
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					</table><p>To simplify the vendor registration procedure for the <a href="https://solarrooftop.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Portal for Rooftop Solar</a>, the <a href="https://www.mnre.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ministry of New and Renewable Energy</a> notified that vendors can register for an entire state covering the jurisdictions of all distribution companies (DISCOM) by submitting a performance bank guarantee (PBG) of ₹250,000 (~$3,021).</p>
<p>The registration would be extended yearly without additional charges. The vendor, however, should have extended the previously submitted PBG for another year or submitted a new PBG. In any case, the PBG submitted by the vendor will be valid for at least five years from the registration or renewal date.</p>
<p>If a vendor has submitted PBGs to more than one power distribution company (DISCOM)  with a state under the old procedure, only ₹250,000 (~$3,021) should be retained. The remaining PBG should be returned to the vendor within three months or at the time of renewal of registration. However, the registered vendor will be asked to renew the retained PBG for another year.</p>
<p>State governments can authorize a DISCOM or a state nodal agency to collect the PBG from the vendors on behalf of all DISCOMs. The DISCOM/Agency collecting the PBG will register the vendors and provide a list of registered vendors (updated periodically) to other DISCOMs for uploading them on their respective national portal accounts.</p>
<p>The Ministry directed all the state governments/DISCOMs to notify the revised procedure before June 17, 2023.</p>
<p>In January, the Ministry <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/mnre-hikes-central-assistance-residential-rooftop-northeastern" target="_blank" rel="noopener">increased</a> the central financial assistance for residential rooftop solar consumers of northeastern states, along with hilly states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, and Andaman &amp; Nicobar Islands.</p>
<p>Last October, MNRE <a href="https://mercomindia.com/phase-ii-of-residential-rooftop-solar-program-extended-until-march-2026/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extended</a> Phase II of the ‘Grid-Connected Rooftop Solar Program’ until March 31, 2026. The program has been extended without any enhancement of the approved outlay of ₹118.14 billion (~$1.66 billion) for both the residential segment (Component A) and distribution companies (Component B).</p>
<p>Subscribe to our real-time <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-renewable-energy-regulatory-updates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Regulatory Updates</a> to ensure you never miss any critical updates from the renewable energy industry.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Arjun Joshi</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Arjun-Joshi-1.png" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Arjun Joshi,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Arjun Joshi.</a></p>
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<p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Arjun-Joshi-1.png" width="86" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Arjun Joshi</strong> </a>is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Before joining Mercom, he worked as a technical writer for enterprise resource software companies based in India and abroad. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Psychology, and Optional English from Garden City University, Bangalore. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Arjun Joshi.</a></p>
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Bank Guarantee of ₹250,000 Lets Vendors Register Statewide on Rooftop Solar Portal

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