Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Tuesday, 14 July 2026, virtually inaugurated a 500-kilowatt ground-mounted solar energy project at Gram Panchayat Mamlig in Solan district, under the state government's Green Panchayat Yojana. The plant, built at a cost of Rs 2 crore, is designed to generate approximately 3,000 units of clean electricity daily and nearly 8 lakh units annually, yielding the panchayat an estimated Rs 14 lakh per year in revenue.

Context

Sukhu inaugurated the project from Shimla via virtual mode, with Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania present in Shimla and Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. (Col.) Dhani Ram Shandil attending the event on the ground at Mamlig. The Chief Minister posted details of the launch on X, stating in Hindi: 'आज शिमला से वर्चुअल माध्यम से... ग्रीन पंचायत योजना के अंतर्गत 500 किलोवाट क्षमता की ग्राउंड-माउंटेड सौर ऊर्जा परियोजना का उद्घाटन किया' ('Today, from Shimla via virtual mode, a 500-kilowatt ground-mounted solar energy project under the Green Panchayat Yojana was inaugurated').

The project is executed by HimUrja, the Himachal Pradesh Energy Development Agency, which is the state's nodal body for planning and implementing renewable energy projects.

Policy Backdrop

The Green Panchayat Yojana is a Himachal Pradesh government initiative aimed at embedding solar generation capacity directly within gram panchayats, enabling rural bodies to become both energy producers and revenue earners. The scheme fits within India's broader target of achieving 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030, with decentralised, panchayat-level projects forming a critical pillar of that ambition.

Himachal Pradesh has been aligning such projects with its carbon-neutrality roadmap, channelling central and state funds to rural institutions for simultaneous infrastructure development and social protection. The lineage of this approach traces back to the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission launched in 2010, which prompted states to design decentralised rural solar programmes.

Revenue Distribution Model

The defining feature of the Mamlig solar project, as highlighted by CM Sukhu, is its structured revenue-sharing framework. Of the estimated Rs 14 lakh annual income, the distribution is as follows: 25% goes toward gram panchayat development works; 25% is earmarked for the welfare of orphans and widows; 20% is retained by the state government; 20% goes to HimUrja; and the remaining 10% covers operations and maintenance.

The explicit allocation of a quarter of revenues to orphans and widows marks this as a social welfare instrument as much as an energy project, directly linking clean power generation to vulnerable community groups at the village level.

Stakeholders and Impact

Gram Panchayat Mamlig in Solan district stands as the immediate beneficiary, gaining a self-sustaining revenue stream to fund local development without dependence on discretionary state grants. Widows and orphans in the panchayat area will receive a dedicated welfare allocation from the plant's earnings each year.

At the state level, HimUrja and the Himachal Pradesh government each secure a share of revenues that can be recycled into further renewable deployments. The model, if replicated across the state's roughly 3,600 gram panchayats, could meaningfully scale both clean generation capacity and rural social spending simultaneously.

What's Next

The Himachal Pradesh government is expected to extend the Green Panchayat Yojana to additional districts, with the Mamlig project serving as a replicable template. The actual realisation of projected revenues and welfare disbursements will be a key metric to watch in the state's next budget cycle. Broader adoption will also test HimUrja's execution capacity as demand for decentralised solar installations grows across the hill state.