Pradhan Mantri Suryoday Yojana: REC Ltd made nodal agency; to lend Rs 1.2 lakh cr

With this latest rooftop solar scheme for households announced by PM Modi on January 22, the company expects upwards of 10 GW of this 40 GW target to be achieved within a year

REC Ltd, a Maharatna power finance company, on January 23 said it will lend up to Rs 1,20,000 crore for the installation of rooftop solar panels under the Pradhan Mantri Suryoday Yojana.

The statement made by REC's Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Vivek Kumar Dewangan came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that his first decision after returning from Ayodhya following the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple was to launch this scheme of installing rooftop solar in one crore houses.

In an interaction with reporters on January 23, Dewangan also stated that a target of one year has been given for installing rooftop solar in one crore households under this latest scheme. He said the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is working on the guidelines for the scheme which will be issued shortly.

"The MNRE has designated REC as the overall programme implementation agency for the rooftop solar scheme. Today REC's Board has authorised the management to issue a Line of Credit to eight central public sector undertakings which are going to act as renewable energy services companies to the tune of about Rs 15,000 crore each. We are committed that we will be able to give line of credit up to Rs 1.20 lakh crore for the rooftop solar mission," he said.

For implementation of the scheme, states and union territories have been divided between eight central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) under the Ministry of Power. These include NTPC, NHPC, EESL, PowerGrid, SECI, THDC, SJVN and NEEPCO. These CPSEs will also be proactively doing rooftop solar installation under the RESCO model (renewable energy service company).

Until 2026, REC has been given a target of getting 40 GW of rooftop solar installations sanctioned. With this latest rooftop solar scheme for households announced by PM Modi on January 22, the company expects upwards of 10 GW of this 40 GW target to be achieved within a year.

"The target, within the given time frame, will be a challenging task because we will have to coordinate with multiple stakeholders - owners of rooftops, distribution companies, vendors, financing companies and so on. However, we are certain of achieving the given target," Dewangan said.

Overall, REC Ltd has set a target of increasing its renewable energy loan portfolio to Rs 300,000 crore by 2030. So far, the company has sanctioned about Rs 125,000 crore.

Currently, about 7-8 lakh households have installed rooftop solar systems and benefited from the government capital subsidy programme, resulting in about 4 GW of solar capacity.

REC Ltd on January 23 reported a net profit of Rs 3,269.3 crore for the quarter ending December 2023, which is 13.6 percent higher compared to the year-ago period. The company's net profit in the third quarter of the previous fiscal stood at Rs 2,878 crore.