Help India "Cook on Sunshine"

 Australia's Home Battery Boom : 

Let PM Surya Ghar 2.0 Help India "Cook on Sunshine"

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Respected Shri Pralhad Joshiji,

Union Minister of New & Renewable Energy, Government of India

Congratulations on PM Surya Ghar crossing 50 lakh households. It is now the world's largest domestic rooftop solar programme.

You have said that MNRE will integrate battery storage as costs come down, and that MNRE began consulting industry on the next phase in August. That is why I am writing now, and I hope you will find this timely.

AUSTRALIA HAS SHOWN HOW FAST IT CAN BE DONE

Saur Energy has reported on Australia's "Cheaper Home Batteries Program" (launched 1 July 2025):

• About 30% discount on a battery paired with rooftop solar, given at the point of sale through an existing certificate mechanism, with no new bureaucracy

• Over 6 lakh batteries (about 16.8 GWh) installed in some 16 months

• Credited as a major factor in a 47% fall in wholesale power prices, as homes discharge batteries during the evening peak

• Budget raised from AU$ 2.3 billion to about AU$ 7.2 billion, because demand far exceeded the original allocation

For India, Ember estimates that adding an unsubsidised battery stretches the rooftop payback from 3.3 years to about 9. A 50% battery subsidy brings it under 7 years. Covering half of the 1-crore-household target would cost about Rs 28,000 crore and add 15 to 25 GWh of household storage.

THE MISSING LINK: COOKING

In Indian homes, the evening peak is the cooking hour. Rooftop panels produce at noon, but dinner is cooked after sunset. A home battery is what lets a family cook its evening meal on the afternoon's sunshine. Only then does rooftop solar start replacing imported LPG, not just lowering the electricity bill.

I have been advocating this combination of solar power, battery storage and electric cooking for years:

1. Solar Chula? Some Unanswered Questions (03 Nov 2017)

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/11/solarcooker.html

2. Dear Shri Goyalji: How about a Solar Cooker? (26 Aug 2020)

Proposed a DBT of 75% of the price, capped at Rs 7,500, for ISI-certified solar cookers, in place of LPG subsidy

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2020/08/dear-shri-goyalji-how-about-solar-cooker.html

3. A Battery Swapping Policy for Battery-Powered Solar Cookers? (25 Mar 2022)

Households buy only the cooker and lease the battery from an Energy Operator, swapping it when discharged, just like an LPG cylinder. Subsidise up to 12 swaps a year.

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2022/03/a-battery-swapping-policy-for-battery.html

4. Electric Solar Hybrid Oven: Reliance New Energy Marketing Strategy (06 Oct 2023)

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2023/10/electric-solar-hybrid-oven-reliance-new.html

5. From Induction Stove to Solar Cookers: Missing Link (10 Nov 2023)

Urged EESL to power its induction stoves with solar, since energy efficiency is its real mission

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2023/11/from-induction-stove-to-solar-cookers.html

6. Searching for Battery for Solar Cooker? (26 Nov 2023)

Urged your predecessor, Shri R K Singh, to allow nil-duty import of "second-life" EV battery packs, both for grid storage and to power solar cookers under the National Efficient Cooking Programme

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2023/11/searching-for-battery-for-solar-cooker.html

MY SUGGESTIONS FOR PM SURYA GHAR 2.0

1. A "Sun + Storage + Stove" bundle : link the battery subsidy to an induction

   cooktop, for example EESL's Rs 6,990 NECP kit, so every hybrid system is

   "cooking-ready"

2. Keep it simple, as Australia did: a flat discount at the point of sale through the

   existing national portal, with no separate application

3. Size the battery for the evening meal. About 2 to 3 kWh can run a 1.2 kW

  induction cooktop for dinner

4. Battery-as-a-Service: let DISCOMs or Energy Operators lease or swap batteries

   for families who cannot pay upfront

5. Allow certified second-life EV batteries to cut cost further

6. Treat the first budget as an opening figure, not a cap, since Australia's demand

   tripled its outlay

Every kitchen that cooks on stored sunshine saves imported LPG, flattens the

evening peak and cleans the air in the home, all at once.

I would be happy to share more details with your officers if useful.

With regards,

Hemen Parekh

www.HemenParekh.ai  /  www.Iam-Immortal.ai  / www.YourContentCreator.in 

Mumbai

13 Nov 2026