Sunlight Across Borders: Applying India’s Mini-Grid Models in the UAE

India’s PM Surya Ghar shows how digital governance and targeted subsidies can scale household solar—offering transferable lessons for the UAE’s Net Zero 2050 goals

Introduction

This article examines India’s Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana (PM Surya Ghar) as a landmark model for household solar energy adoption. Through an analysis of its institutional design, financial mechanisms, and early outcomes, the study identifies key success factors, including digital governance, subnational coordination, and targeted financial accessibility, alongside persistent challenges such as technological dependence, regulatory fragmentation, and limited technical literacy. The paper further explores the transferability of these lessons to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where residential prosumer models remain underdeveloped. It argues that adopting elements of India’s framework could enhance the UAE’s Net Zero 2050 trajectory. The analysis highlights how cross-context learning between emerging economies can advance both technological innovation and citizen participation in the global energy transition.

The global transition to low-carbon and renewable energy (RE) sources has thus far been dominated by large-scale initiatives. In the context of electricity, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that renewables accounted for approximately 30 percent of global electricity generation as of 2023 and are projected to grow to 50 percent by 2030.

Although such projects provide ample benefits, they require significant investment and cross-sectoral collaboration. Additionally, they place tremendous pressure on the current energy infrastructure, such as national grid systems and distribution networks.

In parallel, a growing global consensus has recognised the value of multi-level approaches within energy systems, at the meso, micro, and household levels. Governments across Europe and North America have demonstrated the economic, environmental, and social benefits of such programmes.

This study focuses on India’s Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana (PM Surya Ghar) scheme as a landmark policy designed to integrate affordability, citizen inclusion, and distributed solar generation.

What is the PM Surya Ghar Mufti Ghar: Mufti Bijlee Yojana Scheme?

Launched in 2024 by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, the PM Surya Ghar scheme represents the largest government-led coordinated global initiative to promote residential renewable energy (RE) generation through a nationwide prosumer model. Operating under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) as part of India’s wider net-zero strategy by 2070, the programme allocates approximately US$9 billion to supply up to ten million households with rooftop solar systems by 2027. Recent reports suggest that up to one million households have already benefited within the first year of implementation.

Its design follows a multi-tiered subsidy and implementation framework encompassing three phases. First, participation is initiated through a centralised online portal integrated with state-level distribution companies (DISCOMs), which assess the technical feasibility of the individual household. Once approved, households engage certified vendors under the guidance and monitoring of the DISCOMs. The subsidy framework offers up to 60 percent financial assistance for systems up to 2 kW and 40 percent for systems between 2 and 3 kW. Furthermore, applicants seeking larger installations are eligible for concessional bank loans to cover additional expenses.

Lastly, beneficiaries receive up to 300 units of free electricity per month through a self-consumption offset model. Surplus power may be exported to the grid under state-specific metering arrangements. The scheme does not provide any guaranteed feed-in mechanism, primarily to discourage profit-based approaches, an issue that has affected similar schemes elsewhere.

The ambition, investment, scale, uptake, and ability to seamlessly integrate institutional, social, and technological innovations within a single, nationally coordinated framework are all reasons behind its consideration as a global landmark initiative. Its design embodies a decisive shift by the Indian government to reposition beneficiaries as active participants and co-creators of the national energy transition. Technically, through creative problem-solving and innovative implementation, the scheme has addressed many challenges associated with decentralised RE adoption. Socially, by targeting middle- and lower-income households through mass-scale deployment and transparency in governance, monitoring, and household selection processes, the scheme has provided a robust framework suited to emerging economies seeking a just and inclusive transition. At a policy level, the scheme demonstrates that national strategies can be effectively translated into state-level implementation without compromising fiscal efficiency or accountability. Promising uptake at the early stages provides ample evidence highlighting how inclusivity in design and digitalisation may be utilised to accelerate energy transitions in multiple contexts.

Success Factors and Challenges of the PM Surya Ghar Scheme

The relatively early success of the scheme can be attributed to two main elements: (1) effective coordination at the subnational levels and (2) digital governance. Utilisation of a national portal integrated with state-level DISCOMs has enhanced accessibility while streamlining approval and implementation processes. Moreover, digitisation has improved accountability through transparency across administrative and financial operations.

Equally significant is the scheme’s ability to create targeted financial accessibility through reduced installation costs and ongoing utility savings while maintaining market integrity. Multi-level public awareness campaigns and strong political visibility have catalysed increased awareness, normalisation, and encouragement of household participation in the prosumer model. Collectively, these elements have fostered an inclusive policy environment that accelerates India’s transition through household inclusion whilst maintaining administrative efficiency and transparency.

Despite these achievements, the scheme’s effectiveness has been constrained by behavioural, institutional, and technical challenges. A key limitation lies in its reliance on state-level implementation capacity, where disparities in infrastructure and administrative efficiency have led to uneven deployment. For example, Gujarat is widely regarded as a model state for RE adoption, driven by strong state policy alignment and efficient DISCOM coordination. In contrast, states such as Bihar face significant challenges, including limited resources, unreliable power grids, and comparatively weaker DISCOMs, which have led to low adoption rates and diminished public confidence in the programme.

Building on these disparities, the absence of a unified regulatory framework regarding interconnectivity and net-metering has resulted in variations in the mechanisms that underpin billing procedures and feed-in compensations. This fragmented framework creates long-term uncertainties that complicate uptake and weaken long-term engagement after the programme is concluded.

Another challenge concerns India’s overreliance on imported solar technologies, exposing the scheme to market volatility and uncertain long-term sustainability. Although domestic manufacturing capacity has expanded and is expected to reach approximately 160 GW by 2030, imports still account for over 60 percent of prosumer-based installations. This dependence highlights the challenge of balancing accelerated uptake, as the scheme entails, alongside technological self-reliance.

Lastly, limitations around technical literacy and maintenance capabilities remain significant. The absence of formal training mechanisms and inadequate post-installation support often results in suboptimal performance. These issues have been identified as major barriers that inhibit scalability in prosumer-based solar uptake in India. The absence of these mechanisms risks reducing households to passive beneficiaries as opposed to active participants, undermining the social inclusion objectives of the scheme.

Transferability to the UAE context

Although the UAE has made substantial progress towards its net-zero targets, it has predominantly overlooked the prosumer model and residential rooftop approach, with distributed generation representing less than 1 percent of total installed capacity. Although flagship initiatives such as Noor Abu Dhabi and Shams Dubai exist, participation has remained largely confined to commercial and governmental buildings rather than households. The UAE is therefore ideally positioned to draw lessons from the Indian experience and adapt them to suit its own domestic context in the next phase of its energy transition.

A primary lesson concerns factors such as institutional coordination and digital governance. India’s integration of an online national portal with state-level DISCOMs has been integral in streamlining procedures and improving access. In comparison, establishing a federal digital platform would enable the UAE to strengthen coordination between its state-level utility providers. This approach would not only reduce bureaucratic complexities but also encourage household participation.

A second transferable lesson concerns the financial architecture of the scheme. The introduction of similar capacity-based loans and subsidies that reduce the financial burden on households, coupled with guaranteed export mechanisms under a unified metering framework, would directly align household adoption with the UAE’s Net Zero 2050 targets. Integrating this model into existing public housing schemes could leverage economies of scale and enable coordinated rollouts, allowing collective, area-based transitions rather than fragmented individual approaches.

Finally, the UAE can draw from India’s experience by integrating formal solar training programmes within existing vocational and Emiratisation channels. Strengthening local technical expertise would not only enhance system reliability and maintenance standards but also deepen public engagement and environmental awareness, reinforcing the human dimension of the energy transition. Such initiatives would further embed renewable energy within the UAE’s broader socio-technical and cultural frameworks that are central to sustainable development.

Concluding Remarks

The PM Surya Ghar scheme exemplifies how the integration of technological investment, inclusive governance, and public engagement can transform passive stakeholders into active agents of the energy transition at the household level. Its lessons offer valuable insights for the UAE as it advances towards its own Net Zero 2050 objectives. By adapting core elements such as digitisation, institutional coordination, and financial accessibility, while addressing gaps in skill development, a comparable framework may be introduced in the UAE that accelerates its own transition through deepening citizen participation in shaping a sustainable and collective energy future.

Mohamed Zarouni is a lecturer and researcher at the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy.