In a big endorsement of India’s clean energy vision, two milestone announcements were made on June 20, 2025, one setting the stage for mass adoption of urban rooftop solar, and the other signifying a major leap toward mass producible green hydrogen. Together, they demonstrate India’s holistic strategy to overhaul its energy matrix, harnessing solar power to power homes as well as hydrogen systems.
Rooftop solar gains city-level traction
At a national renewable energy skill development conference in New Delhi, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) unveiled the City Accelerator Program, a formal programme under the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana.
The largest rooftop solar programme in the world has the goal to solarise 1 crore households directly and help achieve India’s target of building 500 GW renewable energy capacity by 2030.
Launched by MNRE Secretary Santosh Kumar Sarangi in partnership with the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, the initiative will first be piloted in 30 cities in 10 states, before being ramped up to 100 cities. The aim is to overcome city-level bottlenecks, offer technical and policy assistance to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and DISCOMs, and develop institutional capacity.
Some of the major features of the City Accelerator Program are offering exhaustive technical support and regulatory guidance to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and DISCOMs for facilitating rooftop solar adoption. The program will assist cities in creating and putting in place policy changes that are specifically relevant to their requirements.
It also focuses on the creation of economic models for explicitly highlighting the operational and financial advantages of rooftop solar systems for central stakeholders. Besides that, targeted awareness campaigns and capacity-building training programs will be implemented in order to establish local capacities. The program will also generate toolkits, knowledge products, and case studies to facilitate extensive learning and replication of best models across cities.
A committed implementation cell at MNRE and city-level deployment teams will ensure the program promotes compelling and replicable models for rooftop solar development. The focus here is on developing solar-ready cities that can serve as models for clean urban energy systems.
Green Hydrogen breakthrough
The same day, the Ministry of Science & Technology announced a scientific breakthrough that may redefine green hydrogen production. The Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), Bengaluru, an independent institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), announced a next-generation device to produce green hydrogen by splitting water molecules with solar energy alone.
The team, under the leadership of Dr. Ashutosh K. Singh, developed a silicon-based photoanode constructed through a novel n-i-p heterojunction structure made of TiO₂, undoped silicon, and NiO semiconductor layers. Employing a scalable method known as magnetron sputtering, the device:
1) Recorded a 600-mV surface photovoltage
2) Needed only 0.11 VRHE onset potential
3) Functioned for 10 consecutive hours with only 4 per cent degradation
4) Showed performance on a 25 cm square large-area photoanode
This innovation stands out not only for its high performance and long-term stability but also for using earth-abundant, cost-effective materials, a rarity in the solar-to-hydrogen segment. It opens up possibilities for affordable, industrial-scale green hydrogen that could power everything from homes to heavy industry, fully reliant on solar energy.
Dr. Singh referred to the breakthrough as a huge leap towards making practical, scalable solar-to-hydrogen systems a reality. The research has been featured in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A, which is a journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Two Paths, One Vision: A Solar Future
The concurrent launch by two arms of the government, the MNRE’s city rooftop initiative and DST’s scientific hydrogen breakthrough, underlines a unified national push. While the City Accelerator Program introduces policy, public outreach, and implementation brawn, the green hydrogen device provides India’s clean energy path with cutting-edge scientific gravitas.
Collectively, these efforts bolster India’s reputation as a world clean energy leader, marrying grassroots take-up with research preeminence. At a time when the world is looking for scalable solutions to the climate emergency, India is positioning itself at the centre of the solar-powered revolution.
