Madhya Pradesh’s Solar Power Hits 6,000 MW, Govt Tells Rajya Sabha

Madhya Pradesh has crossed 6,027 MW of solar power capacity. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy shared the figure in the Rajya Sabha on July 21, in reply to a question from member Maya Naroliya. But the number hides a wide gap. Five districts built nearly half of it. Dozens of others have almost none.

Naroliya asked the ministry four things: how it tracks state-level renewable energy targets, how much money Madhya Pradesh got to build solar capacity, the status of Phase III of the Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Park, and whether the government has studied the district-wise impact of this growth. The answers, tabled by Minister of State Shripad Yesso Naik, cover three of the four clearly. The fourth, on Rewa, does not.

Five Districts Built Most of It

Rewa district leads the state with 798.10 MW. Agar Malwa follows at 603.58 MW, then Khargone at 542.49 MW, Shajapur at 515.90 MW, and Neemuch at 382.19 MW. Together, these five districts hold close to half of Madhya Pradesh’s total solar capacity.

At the other end, more than a dozen districts have less than 5 MW each. Mauganj has just 0.01 MW. Pandhurna has 0.20 MW. Maihar has 0.28 MW. Dindori, Anuppur, Umaria and Bhind each sit under 3 MW. Most of these districts fall in the Vindhya, Mahakoshal and tribal belts of the state, regions that have historically drawn less industrial and infrastructure investment than Malwa and Nimar, where the big solar parks stand.

Here is the full district-wise breakdown, from the annexure the ministry submitted to the Rajya Sabha:

Naroliya’s question asked the government to assess the impact of this concentration on the state’s renewable energy share, district by district. The ministry’s answer gives the raw numbers and stops there. It does not address what the gap means for electricity access, jobs or local economies in the districts left behind.

No State Targets, Just Review Meetings

On monitoring, Naik told the Rajya Sabha that the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana is a demand-driven scheme. Any residential consumer with a grid-connected electricity connection can apply through the scheme’s national portal. The ministry has not allotted state-wise targets under the scheme, Naik said, and instead tracks progress through review meetings with state governments and other stakeholders.

That open design has not worked well nationally. As of July 2025, the scheme had completed just 13 percent of its 10-million-household target, and released only 14 percent of subsidy funds, despite 5.79 million applications, according to a joint report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis and JMK Research. Nationally, only 22.7 percent of applications ended in a completed installation. Madhya Pradesh has installed 1.14 lakh rooftop systems so far, far behind Gujarat and Maharashtra.

On funding, the Centre released Rs 774.44 crore to Madhya Pradesh in 2025-26 for solar capacity. Of this, Rs 574.43 crore went to rooftop subsidies under PM Surya Ghar, Rs 144.82 crore to PM KUSUM for solar farm pumps, Rs 50.40 crore to solar park development, and Rs 4.79 crore to PM JANMAN, a scheme for tribal habitations.

This funding builds on a broader state push. The Madhya Pradesh Renewable Energy Policy 2025, notified in April, targets 50 percent renewable power by 2030, with interim milestones of 20 percent by 2024 and 30 percent by 2027. Separately, the government told the Lok Sabha in July 2025 that eight solar parks with a combined sanctioned capacity of 4,248 MW have been approved in the state.

Rewa Keeps Growing, Phase III Doesn’t Get an Answer

Naroliya specifically asked for the status and commissioning timeline of the Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Park’s Phase III. Naik’s written reply does not name a Phase III project or give a date.

Instead, it lists what the state’s solar developer, Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited, has already built: the original 750 MW Rewa Solar Park, commissioned in January 2020; the Agar, Shajapur and Neemuch solar parks, adding 1,330 MW through 2024 and 2025; and the 278 MW Omkareshwar Floating Solar Park on the Omkareshwar Dam reservoir, commissioned in October 2024.

The Omkareshwar project has drawn national attention as one of the country’s largest floating solar installations. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi inspected the site and described it as a model that could be replicated elsewhere in the country, pointing to a further 90 GW of untapped floating solar potential nationwide.

The pattern in Madhya Pradesh’s district data matches what researchers have found nationally. Rooftop solar has scaled up unevenly across Indian states, with better-resourced states pulling further ahead while others lag behind due to limited facilitation and vendor availability on the ground, according to IEEFA’s analysis of the PM Surya Ghar scheme.

Rewa, Agar Malwa, Khargone, Shajapur and Neemuch now hold most of Madhya Pradesh’s solar investment. Dozens of other districts have almost none. The government has not told Parliament how, or whether, it plans to close that gap.

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