• MNRE’s City Accelerator Programme launched in Odisha to support PM Surya Ghar rollout.
• Bottom-up initiative aimed at strengthening institutional readiness, market development, and on-ground execution across 100 cities nationwide.
• Bhubaneswar has been selected as a Phase-I city under CAP, along with Cuttack and Puri. Phase-II likely to include three more cities.
Bhubaneswar, January 9, 2026 (ADN) The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India, on Friday marked the launch of the City Accelerator Programme (CAP) in Bhubaneswar with an inception workshop aimed at accelerating rooftop solar adoption under the Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana (PM-SGMBY). Bhubaneswar has been selected as one of the focus cities under Phase-I of CAP, alongside Cuttack and Puri.
The programme is being implemented by MNRE in partnership with the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation (SSEF), with Sustainability Innovations & Advisories Pvt. Ltd. (SIA) appointed as the state implementation partner to provide dedicated technical and operational support at the city level.
Shri Vishal Dev, Principal Secretary, Department of Environment said, “PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana remains a high-priority agenda for the Energy Department, Government of Odisha. The City Accelerator Program (CAP) will be effectively initiated in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, and Puri with a focused approach to accelerate PM Surya Ghar implementation. In parallel, the Energy Department plans to independently undertake IEC and outreach activities across the state to fast-track rooftop solar adoption across the state.”
Smt. Mandvi Singh, Sr. Vice President, Sustainability Innovations & Advisories (SIA) said, “Under the CAP framework, SIA will support the development of strong city-level systems through technical assistance, coordinated stakeholder engagement, and streamlined grievance redressal, enabling scalable and sustainable implementation of PMSG-MBY.”
Launched in February 2024, the PM-SGMBY is the world’s largest domestic rooftop solar programme, aiming to solarise one crore households across India. As of December 2025, nearly 24 lakh households have installed rooftop solar under the scheme. To further accelerate adoption, MNRE launched the City Accelerator Programme in June 2025 as a bottom-up initiative focused on strengthening institutional readiness, market development, and on-ground execution across 100 cities nationwide.
Bhubaneswar has emerged as a comparatively strong performer under the scheme. As of November 25, 2025, the city has received 7,919 rooftop solar applications across its electricity divisions, with 3,999 installations completed, translating into a conversion rate of 50.49 per cent and an installed capacity of 13.8 MW.
The inception workshop, held at the Department of Energy, Kharavel Bhavan, served as an internal alignment and orientation platform for key stakeholders involved in rooftop solar implementation in Bhubaneswar. The session outlined the roadmap for scaling installations in the city, including activation of State and City Programme Management Units, announcement of city-level targets, and initiation of structured stakeholder consultations.
Senior officials from MNRE, the Department of Energy, Government of Odisha, and TPCODL participated in the discussions, along with representatives from Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation and SIA. Deliberations focused on operational priorities, coordination between institutions, and mechanisms to further strengthen rooftop solar deployment in Bhubaneswar.
As the state implementation partner, SIA will support city-level planning, streamline approval processes, strengthen market linkages, and enable faster installations under PM-SGMBY. The City Accelerator Programme is expected to help consolidate Bhubaneswar’s progress while creating lessons that can be replicated across other cities.
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