India Plans $9 Billion Rooftop Solar Push as Key Elections Loom
- Expanding rooftop solar can help speed up energy transition
- Government to give subsidies to reduce cost burden, Modi says
Solar panels on the roof of an apartment block in Bengaluru, India.
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
India plans to invest about 750 billion rupees ($9 billion) to power 10 million homes with rooftop solar panels, boosting the weakest segment of the country’s booming renewable industry.
Sluggish deployment of rooftop systems has cast doubt on India’s target of almost quadrupling solar power generation capacity from 73 gigawatts by the end of the decade. Now Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek to increase the pace of the solar-power rollout with a combination of subsidies and cheaper loans.