This is India’s first solar powered village. The announcement comes ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in the state.
“We shall no longer pay for electricity, but will instead sell it and earn from it. Earlier, the government supplied power to residents. Now, with the installation of solar panels, citizens will now produce their own electricity," he said addressing the programme.
Modhera is around 100 km away from the Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat. The village has a ground-mounted solar power plant, and over 1,300 rooftop solar systems with 1kW capacity have been installed on houses to generate electricity.
The state has allotted 12 hectares of area for the solar project. According to the Gujarat government, people in the village can save 60% to 100% on their electricity bills with this move.
Earlier in the day the prime minister had laid the foundation stone and dedicated multiple projects worth over ₹3,900 crore in Modhera, Mehsana in Gujarat.
The Prime Minister also said that government is making efforts to help people harness power through solar panel at homes.
In August, Modi launched the National Portal for Rooftop Solar, enabling online tracking of the installation process of rooftop solar plants.
This portal will help track the developments starting from the registration of applications to the release of subsidies in the bank of accounts of residential consumers.
Solar power is major component of India’s target of 500 GW of installed renewable energy by 2030 and net zero by 2070.
