Technical Glitches In PM Surya Ghar Portal Delay Rooftop Solar Projects

Explainer: Can Digital Solar Project Make Rooftop Solar More Accessible?

The much-hyped national scheme for residential rooftop solar-PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana is now struggling temporarily on the technical front. For the last few weeks, the vendors involved in the installation of these projects and giving an impetus to the government scheme have been struggling. Several of them have complained internally and also spoke in the open about the delay in the application process, tracking and executing other works through the central portal.

This, ultimately has led to delays in project executions and bitter relations between the vendors and the residential rooftop consumers. Several leading vendors working in multiple states have blamed the technical glitches in the website for the delays. A leading solar vendor told Saur Energy that for the last two weeks, there had been technical glitches that delayed the whole process of application and other works done through the portal. This has allegedly led to a trust deficit among the new residential rooftop solar consumers and vendors. Vendors claim that they now need to pacify their consumers citing the delays which are not under their control, which many new consumers are reluctant to accept.

Complaints raised 

The vendors and some of the solar energy associations like the Rajasthan Renewable Energy Association (REAR) have demanded that the MNRE and the concerned parties need to describe the estimated time period for the delays so that they can make their arrangements accordingly. National Rooftop Portal is important for the consumers, vendors, discoms and the government too. This is the centralized system where consumers sitting anywhere in India can register to get the benefits under the subsidized residential rooftop solar. The consumers use the portal to apply, find and select their vendors and also to get the central subsidies after submitting all relevant documents. The portal also enlists the financiers who are ready to finance the rooftop solar projects.

Vendors also use the same to facilitate the connections and feed in the data and track the progress. The MNRE, meanwhile also has come up with a recent memorandum that talks about offline applications in case of any issue with the National Rooftop Portal. The main issues in the portal started emerging after the National Rooftop Portal was migrated to a new site-PM Surya Ghar portal after the announcement of the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana.  As per the scheme, residential consumers are entitled to a subsidy of Rs 30,000 per kW for up to 2 KW and can get up to Rs 78,000 for 3Kw residential rooftop solar project.