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Solar energy: capacity, manufacturing from polysilicon to module, rooftop and farm solar schemes, and the alliances built on the sun. Prelims has asked about the largest floating solar project in India and about solar water pumps.

Foundation note: Solar: the cell, the chain and the schemes

UPSC has asked

Prelims 2025: PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana and rooftop solar

Showing 2 of 4 articles, those that changed from 1 to 31 August 2026.Show all

Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar Yojana

Prelims and Mains

The Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar Yojana (PM-SSY) is India's first national scheme dedicated to floating solar, solar panels set afloat on reservoirs and other water bodies.

Floating solar

Takes no new land, sitting on reservoirs and other water bodies
Water keeps the panels cool, and a cooler cell converts a little more of the light
Shading the surface cuts evaporation from the water body
Costs more to build, and must survive wind, waves and changing water levels
May harm aquatic life and birds, and needs many agencies to agree

Land based solar

Needs large tracts of land, which is scarce and costly
Cheaper for each megawatt built, and simpler to install and maintain
Panels sit in still hot air, and a hotter cell loses efficiency

From The Hindu, 1 August 2026, and The Indian Express, 24 August 2026

Why float solar

A reservoir carries no crop and costs nothing to acquire, which is the whole argument for floating a solar farm on it.
Ground mounted solar needs three to four times more land per megawatt than the panels occupy, and land acquisition is a chokepoint.
The National Institute of Solar Energy's first national assessment puts reservoir potential at about 102 GW.
The figure comes after filtering water bodies for size, depth, irradiance and access, and capping use at 20 per cent of any reservoir.
About 700 MW floats already, led by 278 MW at Omkareshwar on the Narmada, which has shown loosening float joints and uneven buoyancy.

The scheme

It targets 5,000 MW by 2030 to 31 and is implemented by the Solar Energy Corporation of India.
It pays up to ₹1 crore a megawatt on commissioning.
Every project must carry at least two hours of co located storage, 10,000 MWh in all, to reduce curtailment.

What changed

1 Aug 2026
- The Cabinet approved the ₹5,070 crore scheme.
The Hindu, 1 Aug 2026: Cabinet approves scheme to promote floating solar plants (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 31 Jul 2026: Cabinet approves 'Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar Yojana (PM-SSY)' for Development of Floating Solar Photovoltaic Projects (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 2 Aug 2026 · The Indian Express, 24 Aug 2026: Floating solar: can it be India's next renewable energy success story? (opens in a new tab)

Show history (1 other update)

11 Jun 2026BriefThe first national assessment by the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) put reservoir potential at about 102 GW. The Hindu, 11 Jun 2026: India's reservoirs can host 102 GW of floating solar, says first national assessment (opens in a new tab)

UPSC has asked

Prelims 2022: the largest floating solar project in India

PM-KUSUM

Prelims and Mains

The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM), launched in 2019, supports decentralised solar plants, standalone solar pumps and the solarisation of grid connected agricultural pumps.

It has worked on the pump rather than the field, solarising irrigation rather than generating from the land itself.

About 29 lakhAgricultural pumps solarised

7.6 GWDecentralised solar added under PM-KUSUM

From the Press Information Bureau (PIB) release and The Hindu, 9 September 2026; capacity figures are for last year.

What changed

13 Aug 2026newly added
- The scheme has three components: A, decentralised plants of 500 kW to 2 MW; B, standalone solar pumps; and C, solarisation of grid connected pumps, including whole feeders.
- Component A plants are set up by farmers, cooperatives, panchayats and farmer producer organisations.
- Component A has moved far more slowly than B, because a plant needs land, a grid connection, a tariff and a financial close where a pump needs only a tender.
- Because farmers cannot raise the equity, Component A has been moved under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund so that projects can draw subsidised loans.
Mains: once pumping costs almost nothing, a farmer has no reason to save groundwater, so solar pumps without groundwater rules raise extraction.
Frontline, 13 Aug 2026: PM-KUSUM has moved fast on subsidised standalone pumps and slowly on turning farmers into power producers, and the gap between the two is a question of who can raise capital. (opens in a new tab)

UPSC has asked

Prelims 2020: solar water pumps

Further reading: Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyaan (MNRE)