The BJP government has launched a major solar push after West Bengal lagged behind other states in renewable energy.
The move marks a policy shift from the previous TMC government, which the BJP says did not prioritise solar; the TMC disputes the claim.
Experts say expanding solar capacity could boost investment, cut coal dependence and support the state's clean energy goals.
In Chinsurah, a town 50km north of Kolkata, Anandamoy Das, a photographer, had long wanted to install a rooftop solar system at his home. He inquired several times with the state electricity authority about the procedures for accessing central government subsidies, but never received a clear answer.
In June, the state’s new BJP government’s budget announcements made him hopeful. The government has now decided to push for the speedy implementation of the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana for rooftop solar, a project that has hardly taken off in West Bengal.
Under this scheme, for a 1 kW System, which can generate 1,300–1,500 units/year, the centre gives ₹30,000 in subsidy. In West Bengal, a unit costs around Rs ₹50,000-55,000. Therefore, the user needs to pay about ₹20,000- ₹25,000 upfront. However, this can be recovered through long-term savings on power charges.
“The previous government neglected solar energy. They also did not allow central schemes to reach the people of the state. We are going to change it,” said Tapas Roy, commerce and industries minister who also looks after the Non-Conventional and Renewable Energy Sources department.
Despite accounting for around 4% of India's land area, West Bengal has the lowest installed solar power capacity among the country's large and medium-sized states.
With just 363.5 MW, 0.23% of India's total installed solar capacity of 162,152 MW, according to Central Electricity Authority (CEA) data, the state also ranks among the poorest performers in implementing the PM KUSUM scheme for solar-powered irrigation.
During budget discussions earlier, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari alleged that the previous government deprived the people of the state of the benefits of the central solar schemes. “They blocked all central schemes. Now, we’ll push for their speedy rollout,” he said.
The government aims to install 2 lakh rooftop solar units under the Surya Ghar scheme by March 2027, he said. To popularise rooftop solar in the state’s relatively backward regions, he announced a ₹5,000 additional subsidy for PM Surya Ghar beneficiaries from the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) categories.
Industry experts who spoke to Outlook said the Mamata Banerjee government, which ruled West Bengal from 2011, did not prioritise the expansion of solar energy, with the state's power sector continuing to rely heavily on coal. Coal accounts for 9,528.7 MW, or 80.5%, of West Bengal's total installed power capacity of 11,825.86 MW.
By contrast, solar contributes just 363 MW. The state's renewable pipeline also remains limited, with only 419 MW under construction out of India's 90,040 MW of solar capacity being developed as of March 2026.
Now, the new BJP government’s budget document says it will “encourage more generation of solar power and its consumption, both to make power affordable to the industries as well as meet climate goals.”
The government allocated Rs 2,000 crore for a Mega Floating Solar Photovoltaic Project with Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) at Bakreshwar Dam. Experts feel this money can fund a 500-600 MW solar project.
West Bengal started in the early years of solar energy in the 1990s. However, it lagged in the past decade when most other major states prioritised solar energy generation. SP Gon Chaudhuri, a solar energy pioneer in India, is hopeful things will change. He alleges the previous government did not want solar to grow, perhaps to please the ‘coal lobby’. “The chief minister kept talking about a grand coal project at Deucha-Pachami. How many times did she even mention solar?” he asks.
Former power minister Sobhandeb Chatterjee of the TMC denies the charge and blames lack of positive response from the Centre. “The Centre had a stepmotherly attitude towards us. Despite their non-cooperation, we built projects with foreign collaboration.”
He was referring to an 112.5MW project in Goaltore, West Midnapore, which was inaugurated in 2025. The government also announced an expansion of 100MW along with BESS. Germany’s KfW bank provided an 80% soft loan funding under the bilateral Financial Cooperation framework for climate-friendly energy and agreed to fund 70% of the expansion.
A renewable energy department official, who spoke to Outlook on condition of anonymity, said that the previous government “took a serious interest” in solar around 2023-24 after realising that it could help the government reduce power bills, which were hurting the exchequer. Now, the hunt for suitable land plots for solar parks is also expected to start soon.
A 100MW park would require 250-300 acres of land in a single stretch, which is scarcely available in the fertile Gangetic parts of the state. They are available more easily in the southwestern part of the state, where large barren land tracts are available.
Incentives and other policies will be formulated after discussion with different stakeholders, the official said. Despite repeated attempts, Barun Kumar Ray, secretary of the state's Non-Conventional and Renewable Energy Sources Department, could not be reached for comment.
According to Soubhik Das, Senior Director and Regional Head-East, Ampin Energy Transition, among India’s top six states in terms of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), West Bengal, the sixth, stands in contrast to the top five in its approach.
The rest focused on Green Energy Open Access (GEOA) for the supply of green power to industry and offered various incentives to RE plants. West Bengal did offer certain incentives in GEOA regulations, but they were not effective as the state did not have an RE policy in the first place.
“Perhaps, the earlier state government was worried that the spread of GEOA could affect the monopoly of the distribution companies in the state,” said Das, whose company operates in 22 different states of India supplying power to public sector utilities and industries.
He believes that green energy availability creates a green ecosystem that attracts green industries. New sectors like AI data centres, green steel and green cement would prefer to choose states where green energy is easily available.
“RE is best harnessed if it is generated close to the demand centre in a decentralised way, which helps avoid transmission & ATC loss that creates burdens on the state exchequer/consumer. This can also help avoid congestion of the inter-state network that hampers inter-state supply,” he said.
The advancement of storage technology is negating many of the concerns relating to lower solar irradiation in West Bengal when compared to states like Rajasthan. This is leading to a more conducive atmosphere for drawing investment.
Notably, finance minister Swapan Dasgupta has said the government plans to position itself as a preferred destination for AI-driven data centres and hyperscale cloud computing infrastructure. Both require extensive green energy commitments to offset their high-power demands.
