740 Tripura households earn by selling solar power to grid under PM Surya Ghar scheme

Agartala: Concerns over electricity bills in Tripura are easing as rooftops, tin sheds and household courtyards are being used to generate power and income under the Prime Minister’s PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana.MD of Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSECL) Biswajit Basu said 740 electricity consumers in the state earned money by selling surplus solar power back to the grid after installing rooftop solar panels under the scheme.The consumers reduced their electricity bills to zero and generated additional income by exporting excess power. Over the last three months, none of the 740 consumers paid electricity charges, and TSECL transferred a total of Rs 2,64,331.94 to their bank accounts as payment for electricity supplied to the grid.Basu said the development is changing household electricity from a monthly expense into a potential revenue source, with consumers who generate more than they use feeding surplus power into the grid and earning from it.Officials and experts described the gains from clean energy adoption as a quiet shift in the power sector. Basu pointed to the eventual depletion of conventional sources such as coal and gas and argued for renewable alternatives, highlighting solar energy as a reliable option.The Tripura govt is pushing implementation of the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana with a target to cover 50,000 families by 2027, including households without concrete roofs. The project involves total govt expenditure of Rs 75,021 crore and is to be implemented from 2023–24 to 2026–27, with the Centre offering subsidies and financial incentives for solar capacity installation.