Cabinet Sanctions Solar Scheme worth 25.7 GW to benefit farmers

The KUSUM (Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan) scheme has been in the works for some time and pursues to provide both financial security and more sustainable water access for farmers. By concentrating on the establishment of solar plants on what terms unfertile land, it also seeks to work around the major challenge evolving for solar growth, land availability.

By projecting a total expense of Rs 34,422 crores for the scheme, the government has made its resolved clear, and one hopes that the actual work on the ground will have the same backing and support. The scheme hopes to provide 27.5 lakh solar pumps (17.50 lakh standalone + 10 Lakh Grid-connected).

Also, as already announced earlier last week, farmers with barren or uncultivable land will be supported for installation of a total 10 GW of Solar Power Plants of a transitional capacity of 0.5 to 2 MW each. 50,000 Grid-connected tube-wells/lift irrigation and drinking water projects are also part of the plan

Farmers with surplus power generation will be able to sell it to their discoms, providing further income opportunities for them. The good news is that with some states already rolling out broadly similar policies, this move by the center should encourage others to join in too, leaving India with a broader consensus on getting renewable energy to play a bigger role in the agricultural sector. Readers will note that agriculture, for multiple reasons, has been one of the toughest sectors to drive change in, unlike say, electricity, and transportation, both of which seem to have come around to a clear path to a shift to higher sustainability driven by renewables.