The Delhi government will identify cooperative group housing societies and dairy cooperative societies for rooftop solar panel installation under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana.

Senior officials from the Union ministry of cooperation and Delhi’s registrar of cooperative societies recently met to strategise the rollout. In the initial phase, at least one housing cooperative and one dairy society will be selected. Managing committees and federations of housing cooperatives have been asked to shortlist societies with adequate rooftop space.

Despite previous efforts, rooftop solar adoption in Delhi remains low. To boost uptake, the Delhi government has increased subsidies and simplified the process. A top-up subsidy of Rs 30,000 will now be provided over the Centre’s Rs 78,000 subsidy, enabling residents to avail a total of Rs 1.08 lakh for a three kW rooftop solar system.

The PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, a central scheme, aims to provide free electricity to one crore households nationwide that install rooftop solar units. Authorities hope the focused campaign via cooperative societies will accelerate Delhi’s transition to renewable energy.