Over 4.11 lakh farmers benefited from PM-KUSUM solar scheme

New Delhi : Over 4.11 lakh farmers have benefited in the country as of June 30 this year through the PM-KUSUM scheme that enables them to set up solar power plants and irrigation pumps on their land, Minister of State for New & Renewable Energy, Shripad Yesso Naik, informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

The minister also said as per information provided by the state implementing agency of Uttar Pradesh till July 29 this year, the PM-KUSUM has provided benefits to 51,097 farmers in the state.

The government launched the PM-KUSUM scheme in March 2019, which was scaled up in January 2024 to provide energy and water security to farmers, enhance their income, de-dieselise the farm sector, and reduce environmental pollution.

The three components under the scheme include Component-A under which farmers can set up decentralised ground-mounted grid-connected solar or other renewable energy-based power plants on their land up to the capacity of 2MW.

The renewable power generated from these power plants is purchased by DISCOMs at the pre-fixed tariff.

In case farmers lease their land to the developer they are also eligible for lease rent.

DISCOMs are eligible to get a Performance Based Incentive (PBI) @ Rs. 0.40 per unit purchased or Rs. 6.6 lakh per MW of capacity installed, whichever is less, for a period of five years from the Commercial Operation Date.

The DISCOMs can, if they desire so, pass on the PBI given to them by the Central Government under this component, to the REPP owner to get a more competitive tariff of RE Power.

Under Component-B farmers can install the stand-alone Solar Agriculture Pumps for irrigation.

The Government provides the Central financial assistance of 30 per cent (or 50 per cent for North Eastern Region/Hilly region/Islands) for the solar pumps. The Component-C scheme enables solarisation of grid-connected agriculture pumps under its Individual Pump Solarisation (IPS) mode & also Feeder Level Solarisation (FLS) of agricultural load.

The Government provides the central Financial Assistance of 30 per cent (or 50 per cent for the North Eastern Region/Hilly region/Islands) under Component-C for both IPS & FLS. This enables the farmers to access day-time assured solar energy.