Nagaland holds first Solar Mission meeting, announces additional subsidies for rooftop solar

The first meeting of the Nagaland Solar Mission was held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Dr J Alam at the Conference Hall of the Chief Secretary on Monday. The meeting focused on the implementation of the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana in the state, which aims to provide rooftop solar installations for residential households.

The PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana was approved by the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on February 29, 2024. The scheme seeks to provide free electricity of up to 300 units per month for one crore households through rooftop solar installations (RTS).

Under this scheme, the consumers may benefit from RTS installation by importing lesser grid supply thereby reducing the monthly electricity bill. Further, to lighten the investment burden of the household for installing RTS system, the Government of India shall provide subsidies ranging from 60% to 54% for 1KW to 3KW of the RTS benchmark costs.

To support its implementation in Nagaland, the state government has decided to supplement the central subsidy by offering additional state subsidies ranging from 36% to 31% for 1kW to 3kW installations. An amount of Rs.10.00 crore has been budgeted during the financial year 2025-26 With this, the total subsidy will now range from 96% (for up to 2kW) to 85% (for up to 3kW) of the benchmark cost, significantly reducing installation expenses for households.

For implementation of the Scheme, it was informed that a Solar Mission Team will be formed at the Directorate Level and a Solar Mission Cell at the Secretariat level.

The meeting was attended by Finance Commissioner, Secretary Power, Engineer in Chief, Power and other Officials from the Power Department.

MT