The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has released draft guidelines for financial assistance and payment security under the ‘PM Surya Ghar—Muft Bijli Yojana’ rooftop solar scheme. These guidelines pertain to the implementation of the component central financial assistance to residential consumers for eligible consumer categories only through renewable energy services company (RESCO) models and utility led aggregation (ULA) models and for the component payment security mechanism.
The implementation period of the scheme shall be till March 31, 2027. Under the RESCO model, a third-party renewable energy company is responsible for procuring, installing, and maintaining the rooftop solar system for a minimum of five years. Consumers pay for the electricity generated based on a tariff to the RESCO operator.
Additionally, the operator may compensate the consumer for roof utilisation rights. Ownership of the plant can be transferred to the consumer after at least five years. Under the ULA model proposals, the utility can utilise payment security mechanisms to ensure payment security for projects involving RESCO partners. This is achieved through an open and transparent bidding process for tariff discovery.
