Power on the Roof: Reviewing Rooftop Solar Adoption in India

Abstract

Rooftop solar (RTS) represents a critical component of India’s clean energy transition, offering decentralized generation, reduced transmission losses, and potential resilience benefits. Yet, despite ambitious national targets and substantial technical potential, RTS adoption has lagged behind expectations. This narrative review synthesizes peer-reviewed literature (2019–2025), government program documents, and policy reports to examine the trends, barriers, enablers, economics, regional signals, stakeholder outcomes, and policy implications shaping rooftop solar adoption in India. Findings indicate that commercial and industrial consumers have historically dominated the sector due to favorable tariffs and access to credit, while residential uptake accelerated only after the launch of flagship initiatives such as PM Surya Ghar. Persistent barriers include high upfront costs, affordability gaps, regulatory uncertainty, procedural delays, information asymmetries, and built environment constraints. At the same time, innovations such as simplified subsidy pipelines, digitalized approval portals, DISCOM performance incentives, vendor certification, and emerging business models including RESCO/OPEX and group or virtual net metering demonstrate viable pathways to expand adoption. The review identifies future research needs in program evaluation, financial innovation, grid integration, apartment governance, and quality assurance, and emphasizes the importance of stable regulatory frameworks, inclusive finance, and community-oriented models.