What is the minimum reduction in projected demand of conventional energy at the end of five years as per the 'development of solar cities' programme?

Q: What is the answer to CAPF 2020 Paper I Q39?

C. Correct — C, 10 per cent. Under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy's Development of Solar Cities programme, a solar city is one that achieves a minimum ten per cent reduction in its projected demand for conventional energy at the end of five years. The reduction is to be reached by combining energy-efficiency measures with a larger supply from renewable sources within the city, and around sixty cities and towns were proposed for support.

(a)2 per cent
(b)5 per cent
(c)10 per cent
(d)15 per cent

Answer

Why

Correct — C, 10 per cent. Under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy's Development of Solar Cities programme, a solar city is one that achieves a minimum ten per cent reduction in its projected demand for conventional energy at the end of five years. The reduction is to be reached by combining energy-efficiency measures with a larger supply from renewable sources within the city, and around sixty cities and towns were proposed for support.

Why the others are wrong

(a)2 per cent — Two per cent would be within the ordinary year-to-year variation of a city's energy demand and would not need a programme.
(b)5 per cent — Five per cent understates the target. The threshold that defines a solar city under the programme is twice this.
(d)15 per cent — Fifteen per cent overshoots. The programme sets ten per cent as the floor, and a city is free to plan for more, but ten is the figure in the guideline.

Concept

The programme worked through master plans rather than through a single technology. A participating city prepared a solar city master plan setting out its present and projected energy demand, its efficiency potential and the renewable capacity it could install, and support from the ministry followed the plan. Rooftop solar, solar water heating, waste-to-energy and street-lighting retrofits were the usual components.

Reading the target carefully is what the item rewards. The reduction is measured against projected demand five years ahead, not against present consumption, so a city meets it by bending its growth curve rather than by cutting today's use. Anchored to the 2020 exam the programme was the ministry's flagship for urban renewable energy; the urban push today runs mainly through PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, launched in 2024 with a target of one crore rooftop solar installations in the residential sector.

Key facts

A solar city under the programme targets a minimum ten per cent reduction in projected conventional energy demand at the end of five years.
The reduction combines energy-efficiency measures with additional renewable supply within the city.
Around sixty cities and towns were proposed for support as solar or green cities.
Each participating city prepared a solar city master plan setting out its demand, efficiency potential and renewable capacity.
The current urban solar programme is PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, aimed at one crore rooftop installations in the residential sector.

What the target actually says

Quantity measured against→The city's projected demand for conventional energy, not its present consumption

Time horizon→Five years from the start of the plan

Minimum reduction→10 per cent, treated as a floor rather than a ceiling

How it is to be achieved→Energy efficiency plus additional renewable supply inside the city

Every element of the printed question — minimum, projected demand, five years — corresponds to a clause of the guideline, so the item is really a test of reading the scheme carefully.

Study next

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy schemes for solar powerPM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana and rooftop solar in the residential sectorThe Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission and India's solar capacity targetsThe International Solar Alliance, its founding and its headquartersEnergy efficiency policy — the Bureau of Energy Efficiency and the star labelling scheme

Common traps

Reading the target as a reduction against current consumption rather than against projected demand.
Treating ten per cent as a ceiling when the guideline sets it as a minimum.
Confusing this programme with the later rooftop solar schemes, which have quite different targets.

A scheme-parameter item. Numbers attached to schemes are the examiner's favourite handle here, so the target figure and the time horizon are both worth carrying.

Related PYQs

UPSC_2025_GS1_Q702025Open & attempt →

Consider the following statements about ‘PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana’ : I. It targets installation of one crore solar rooftop panels in the residential sector. II. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy aims to impart training on installation, operation, maintenance and repairs of solar rooftop systems at grass-root levels. III. It aims to create more than three lakhs skilled manpower through fresh skilling, and up-skilling, under scheme component of capacity building. Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) I and II only
(b) I and III only
(c) II and III only
(d) I, II and III

Answer(d) I, II and III

The programme that has taken over this space. Its one crore rooftop target and its skilling component are the present-day form of the same idea — cutting a city's draw on conventional power by generating within it.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
The Development of Solar Cities programme was launched by
- (a)the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
- (b)the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
- (c)the Ministry of Power
- (d)the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Answer(b) the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy — the nodal ministry for renewable energy programmes.
practice — not a real PYQ
PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, launched in 2024, targets the installation of rooftop solar panels in
- (a)one lakh households
- (b)ten lakh households
- (c)one crore households
- (d)ten crore households
Answer(c) one crore households — a residential rooftop solar target announced under the scheme.