Uttar Pradesh has emerged as India’s second-largest residential rooftop solar market under the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, overtaking Maharashtra with 6,74,393 rooftop solar installations.
Uttar Pradesh trails only Gujarat, which has 7,49,839 installations, while Maharashtra has moved to third place with 6,73,717 installations. The achievement highlights Uttar Pradesh’s rapid progress in clean energy adoption through coordinated implementation, faster subsidy processing, bank loan facilitation, and DISCOM inspections.
According to UPNEDA Director Ravinder Singh, Uttar Pradesh has installed around 2,283.8 MW (2.28 GW) of residential rooftop solar capacity, enabling lakhs of households to generate clean electricity from their rooftops. The large-scale deployment has significantly reduced dependence on conventional grid power while lowering household electricity bills. Families across the state are collectively receiving free solar electricity worth nearly Rs 6.5 crore every day, while many consumers are also able to export surplus electricity back to the grid through net metering.
The rapid expansion of rooftop solar has also created a thriving green economy across Uttar Pradesh. More than 7,000 solar companies and related businesses are now operating in the state, generating direct and indirect employment for over 85,000 people. The growing ecosystem spans solar panel installation, engineering, electrical services, surveying, design, logistics, sales, marketing, operations and maintenance, creating new opportunities for youth, electricians, engineers, entrepreneurs, MSMEs, and technical professionals.
Growing demand has further strengthened Uttar Pradesh’s solar manufacturing ecosystem, encouraging investments in solar module production, assembly lines, inverters, mounting structures, cables, metering equipment, warehousing, transportation, and logistics. Solar energy has evolved beyond electricity generation to become an important driver of industrial development, local manufacturing, investment, entrepreneurship, and green job creation across the state.
The residential rooftop solar programme is also helping conserve valuable land resources. Unlike ground-mounted solar projects, rooftop systems utilize existing building rooftops for electricity generation. Uttar Pradesh estimates that its current rooftop solar capacity has eliminated the need for more than 9,000 acres of additional land that would otherwise have been required for equivalent ground-mounted solar projects, preserving land for agriculture, housing, industrial expansion, and other development.
The environmental benefits are equally significant. The state’s 2,283.8 MW (2.28 GW) residential rooftop solar capacity is capable of generating approximately 3.8 billion units (3.8 billion kWh) of clean electricity every year.
By replacing fossil fuel-based power generation, the installations can prevent the emission of more than 27 lakh tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. Based on the assumption that a mature tree absorbs around 22 kilograms of carbon dioxide each year, the annual emissions reduction is equivalent to the carbon absorption capacity of more than 12 crore mature trees, reinforcing Uttar Pradesh’s contribution to India’s long-term net-zero and climate goals.
SHAFANA FAZAL
