Union Minister of MSME & road transport Nitin Gadkari in a webinar on Tuesday expressed that micro, small & medium enterprises can contribute to creating nearly 16 GW of rooftop solar capacity by 2022. India had already set the target contribution of 40 GW in meeting the goal of 175 GW renewable energy by 2022.

Speaking at a webinar hosted by the State Bank of India (SBI) and the World Bank on ‘Accelerating Adoption of Solar Rooftop by MSME Sector’ the minister said that “of the 40 GW, four gigawatts to come from the domestic solar rooftop, whereas 16 gigawatts potential can be harnessed from MSMEs. MSME is the most critical sector for advancing the country’s growth.”

This may be the indication of some strong upcoming wave of rooftop solar projects in the C&I segment. MSMEs mostly have high electricity bills that contribute about 20% cost of the total manufacturing, for cost-cutting with healthy environmental impact government is emphasizing rooftop solar.