Chennai: For the first time, the state govt is set to provide a subsidy of up to 22,000 for installing rooftop solar systems at households to bring down their electricity consumption and power bills.While the union govt is already extending up to ₹78,000 for a 3kW rooftop solar system for domestic consumers under the PM Surya Ghar scheme, the state’s additional subsidy will round off the total to ₹1 lakh.Electricity minister R Nirmalkumar recently announced in the assembly that the state will roll out a subsidy, in convergence with the union govt’s scheme, to promote rooftop solar among domestic consumers and allocated ₹50 crore for it. In a GO passed by the energy dept on Saturday, the state approved the Tamil Nadu Green Energy Corporation (TNGECL) ‘s proposal to roll out the scheme to cover 1 lakh consumers by March 2027, when the union govt’s scheme ends.For those installing 1kW rooftop solar system, the state govt will release Rs 5,000 in addition to Rs 30,000 provided by the union govt, while those installing 2kW system will get Rs 10,000 from the state govt, apart from Rs 60,000 released by the union govt. Those installing a 3kW system will get upto Rs 1 lakh subsidy together – Rs 78,000 from the union govt and Rs 22,000 from the state govt.“Tamilnadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA) will fetch applicant’s data from the central govt portal and will release the state govt’s subsidy directly to the applicant’s bank account after the service is effected. Consumers need not apply for the state’s subsidy,” said an official.L R Venkatesh of Tamil Nadu Solar Energy Developers Association (TNSEDA) welcomed the announcement. “The central assistance scheme is completely streamlined, and consumers get subsidies within a week. If the state govt does the same, more consumers will come forward to install rooftop solar,” he said.
