Think of the day when every Indian home will have electricity.

Think of the changes it can bring about in the cities as well the villages. City homes going dark in power outages will be a thing of the past.

Students don’t have to do their homework in candlelight, father won’t miss his news hour on telly, mother won’t fret about dinner because the cooking range has died.

In cottage factories, the lathes will continue to run and the artisan won’t idle. Lit for centuries by no more than the moon and kerosene lamps, village huts, where the day ended with nightfall, will have electric light.

In sum, more of the 24 hours of the day will useful and productive. Possible? Yes, with sun power and a government willing to act on a promised plan. The idea is to promote the use of solar power, tapping it through rooftop solar panels.

Come April, the plan will see light of day, if all goes well with the preparatory work. The main feature of the scheme: anyone who produces solar electricity will have the right to sell any surplus after meeting home needs, and also get paid, to boot.

As per rates fixed by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, power from renewable energy sources (such as solar) is priced at Rs 18 a unit and thermal and gas-based electricity, which all homes use, about Rs 4.50 per unit. Surplus power from rooftops can be directly to the grid and be paid for the solar power rate.

As part of the prime minister’s national solar mission, commercial establishments can already generate and sell electricity. The new scheme is also one of a handful in the mission. This way, it is hoped, India can add up to 2,000 mw to the grid by 2013.

Industry estimates the cost of a simple solar installation producing a kilowatt of electricity at Rs 3 lakh. With 30 per cent subsidy available, the cost could be just Rs 2.1 lakh.

In a city like Delhi, blessed with ample sunshine almost round the year, a 1 kw plant will be able to generate four units of electricity daily. An average household consumes around two units daily.

Such a solar set consists mainly of three components: photovoltaic panels, a mounting and an inverter. The panels convert the solar energy into direct current. The mounting holds the panel facing the sun. And the inverter converts the direct current into indirect current, which is used universally. The link to the grid will have a meter to measure how much electricity is passing into it, and how much is to be paid to the solar plant owner.

All one needs is clear space of 8 to 18 square metres on the roof to instal a plant, depending on the capacity desired.

Similar schemes exist in many parts of the western world. Will one work in India? Some think not, as the cost is still too high and space in short supply. Companies like Tata BP Solar, which produce the systems, are in wait and watch mode.

Other factors may also come in the way. Home power is heavily subsidised in India and utilities will be resistant to buying small power packets from homes at high cost.

But what if all these stumbling blocks are surmounted and the sun rises on the rooftop plan? Whatever the other benefits, one spin-off is guaranteed: the procreative hours – so because night sets in so early in the villages – will turn productive, the most effective way of stopping the populace from multiplying recklessly.