Solar battles between political parties | Photo Credit: KUMAR SSThe residential rooftop solar segment was lying moribund, barely displaying a twitch of life. On January 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi came up with the announcement of a big push to residential rooftop solar industry came, riding piggy-back on the upbeat, post-Ayodhya pran-prathishta mood. The push for a hundred million solar rooftops for residential units was presented as a social welfare plus climate change fighting measure; the political underpinning of the move was subtle. The household will of course have to pay for installing the rooftop solar plant, which will cost around ₹65,000 a kW. But BJP-government, one hears, has a trick up its sleeve — it is asking public sector undertakings to ‘gift’ small-sized rooftop solar plants to poor households.

Source: Punch February 01, 2024 21:12 UTC