Bylined articles from our editorial team where the work spans multiple contributors. Individual contributors are credited inline.
Residential rooftop solar in India pays back in roughly 3.5–6 years after the PM Surya Ghar subsidy (₹78,000 max), and commercial systems in 3–5 years with 40% accelerated depreciation — an effective 15–25% return over 25 years. Real 2026 payback by system size, state and financing.
On-grid solar is the cheapest for most Indian homes (~₹50,000/kW, ₹78,000 PM Surya Ghar subsidy, no battery) but goes dark in a power cut. Off-grid runs without the grid but costs 2–3x more and gets no subsidy. Hybrid adds battery backup and keeps the solar subsidy. This guide shows how to choose.
Net metering in India lets rooftop solar owners export surplus power to the grid and offset future bills. Under the Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, net metering is allowed up to 500 kW or sanctioned load, whichever is lower; larger systems use net billing or gross metering. A draft 2026 amendment proposes mandatory storage above 500 kW, while PM Surya Ghar has stripped out fees and separate agreements for small homes.
India's first national floating solar assessment, released in June 2026, maps 102 GW of floating PV potential across the country's reservoirs, lifting India's total assessed solar potential to 3,445 GW. With MNRE drafting a dedicated scheme and flagship projects like NTPC Ramagundam's 100 MW and Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh, floating solar is moving from pilot to mainstream as a way to spread renewable capacity beyond Rajasthan and Gujarat.
SECI and state DISCOMs cleared 4.2 GW of standalone battery energy storage capacity in the January–March 2026 window, with the lowest discovered tariff falling to ₹2.18/kWh — a 14% drop versus Q4 2025.
TOPCon will dominate module shipments through 2027, but HJT's per-watt manufacturing cost gap has closed faster than analysts forecast in 2025. Here is the data — and why developers in India should keep a 12-month watching brief on HJT before committing to TOPCon-only pipelines.
The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism enters its definitive phase in 2026 with an expanded scope that now touches polysilicon, ingots, and select inverter components. Chinese and Indian exporters face new embedded-emissions reporting obligations that will reshape EU module sourcing through 2028.