Question : Electrification of Villages by Solar Energy

(a) whether any scheme to provide electricity through solar energy is operational to promote electrification of villages in rural areas of the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether electricity connections have also been provided in the State of Maharashtra during the last three years and the current year under the said scheme;
(d) if so, the names of the districts in which along with the names of the companies through which these solar systems have been installed and the number of those where such systems are yet to be installed, district and year-wise;
(e) whether the Government proposes to increase the number of connections under solar energy electrification scheme in the remaining unelectrified villages of Maharashtra; and
(f) if so, the details thereof?

THE MINISTER OF STATE (I/C) FOR NEW & RENEWABLE ENERGY, POWER and MoS for SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
(SHRI R.K. SINGH)
(a) & (b) In October 2017, Government of India through Ministry of Power launched “Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana” - Saubhagya to achieve universal household electrification across the country. The scheme envisaged last mile connectivity and electricity connections to all remaining un-electrified households in rural and all poor households in urban areas. ‘Saubhagya’ scheme included provision of solar based standalone systems to provide electricity to un-electrified households in remote & inaccessible villages/habitations, where grid extension was neither feasible nor cost effective.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy was earlier implementing Remote Village Electrification Programme for electrification of remote villages/habitations, including through solar energy, which was discontinued from 2012-13.

(c) & (d) Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (MEDA) has reported that 30,538 off-grid Solar Home Light Systems (SHLs) were installed in Maharashtra under Saubhagya Scheme during 2017-18 & 2018-19 (up to Dec 2019). The off-grid works under the scheme were completed in December, 2019. The District wise number of Solar Home Light Systems (SHLs) installed is given at Annexure.

(e) & (f) As reported by the State of Maharashtra all the willing un-electrified households in the State stand electrified as on 31.03.2020.

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