India’s MNRE won’t subsidise commercial rooftop projects under 40GW target

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email

India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) will subsidise 15% of the benchmark cost for residential, institutional, government and social sector rooftop solar installations, but will not cover private, commercial and industrial rooftop solar.

With 40GW of solar rooftop allocated as part of India's overall 100GW by 2022 solar target, MNRE has begun implementing its ‘Grid-Connected Rooftop and Small Solar Power Plants Programme’ for projects ranging between 1-500kW in capacity.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

The ministry said that due to the large rooftop target, it would not be able to provide central financial assistance (CFA) to all rooftop solar plants.

The 15% CFA for eligible plants (residential, institutional, government and social sector) will be provided through State Nodal Agencies, State departments, the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), the Indian Renewable Energy Agency (IREDA), empanelled government agencies, PSUs of central and state governments and banks.

Plants provided with the 15% CFA will be subject to the ‘Domestic content Requirement’ for modules made in India.

The MNRE also listed various benefits available to all plants in the 1-500kW sector:

  • Accelerated depreciation benefits for industrial and commercial buildings
  • Custom duty concessions and Excise Duty Exemptions
  • 10-year tax holiday
  • Provision of bank loans as part of home loan/home improvement loan
  • Loans for system aggregators from IREDA at concessional interest rate of 9.9-10.75%
  • Loans up to INR150 million (US$2.35 million) for renewable energy projects and up to INR1 million for individual loans under priority sector lending
  • Bank loans as part of home loan/home improvement loan for rooftop solar systems

In related news, the MNRE has also put out a request for proposals for entrepreneurs and NGOs to implement pilot renewable energy projects including several solar technologies for lighting, heating, pumping and drying in rural districts within the states of Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. This is part of the ministry’s ‘Scale Up of Access to Clean Energy for Rural Productive Uses’ programme.

This week the Indian state of Telangana held a solar auction for which SkyPower Southeast Asia Holdings put in the lowest qualified bid at INR5.17/kWh (US$0.0807/kWh).

Various other winners in the bid have been reported, but without a full list.

Jasmeet Khurana, senior consulting manager at analyst firm Bridge to India, told PV Tech that it is not yet completely clear which companies will take home what capacity because the bids were based on a substation basis and there is still negotiation about locations and capacities of these projects. This is unique to the Telangana tender.

Read Next

July 22, 2025
Statkraft has posted quarter-on-quarter declines in electricity generation and earnings in the second quarter of this year.
July 22, 2025
Canadian energy firm Enbridge will build a 600MW solar PV project in Texas with a power purchase agreement (PPA) in place with social media giant Meta.
July 22, 2025
Chinese module manufacturer JA Solar will supply 1GW of solar modules to UAE power company Masdar for two projects in Azerbaijan. 
July 22, 2025
The investigation launched on polysilicon under Section 232 could present the biggest supply chain challenge to the US solar industry, according to analyst Wood Mackenzie.
July 22, 2025
Spanish independent power producer (IPP) Zelestra  has begun commercial operations at its 435MWdc Gorbea solar project in the state of Rajasthan, India. 
July 22, 2025
AEMO has reported a record-breaking surge in new renewable energy generation and storage assets reaching full operation within the NEM.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico
Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece
Solar Media Events
September 22, 2025
Bilbao, Spain
Solar Media Events
September 30, 2025
Seattle, USA
Solar Media Events
October 1, 2025
London, UK