Que: Khare Energy has designed one of India’s largest agri-PV projects in Madhya Pradesh. Can you share details about the location, current installed capacity, and future expansion plan?

Ans: Khare Energy’s flagship agrivoltaic projects are located in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, across the Sagar and Tikamgarh districts, where we have established some of India’s pioneering large-scale Agri-PV demonstration sites.

The projects integrate solar power generation with productive agriculture on the same land, demonstrating the dual-use potential of farmland for energy and food production.

Currently, our flagship research laboratory (Khargapur, Tikamgarh, MP) site hosts approximately 2 MW of agrivoltaic solar capacity developed under the PM-KUSUM-A scheme, spread across about 16 acres of land. The solar structures (five different designs) are elevated to allow farming activities beneath the panels, and the farm supports more than a dozen horticultural and agricultural crops, including strawberries, capsicum, broccoli, wheat, and other seasonal crops.

Beyond power generation, the site functions as an AgriPV research and demonstration laboratory, where different solar structure designs, crop combinations, irrigation approaches, and farming practices are being tested. This helps generate practical data on how agrivoltaics can improve land productivity, water efficiency, and farmer income in semi-arid regions like Bundelkhand.

Our long-term vision is to create large-scale Agri-Energy assets rather than standalone solar plants. In this model, renewable energy becomes a feeder for rural transformation — powering irrigation, cold storage, food processing, and other farm-based activities. Agrivoltaics also creates a strong investment case: stable long-term power revenues, additional agricultural income streams, and emerging opportunities such as carbon credits and environmental markets. By integrating energy generation with agriculture and rural infrastructure, we can deliver reliable returns to investors while simultaneously strengthening farmer incomes and accelerating the clean energy transition.

Que: What motivated your early focus on agri-voltaic solutions, and how has this shaped your growth journey?

Ans: Our focus on agrivoltaics was shaped largely by practical challenges we encountered while implementing Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) projects across India. One of the biggest constraints we observed early on was land availability and land-use conflicts. Large-scale solar expansion requires significant land, and in many regions, this creates tension with agricultural use.

At the same time, farmers were increasingly looking for stable and predictable income streams beyond traditional agriculture, which is often exposed to climate risks and price volatility. Agrivoltaics presented a very practical solution to both problems — allowing energy generation and farming to coexist on the same land parcel.

We also noticed similar constraints in the C&I solar segment, where many industries struggle to secure suitable land near their facilities for captive solar plants. Agri-PV structures offer a way to utilise agricultural land more efficiently without removing it from productive use.

This realisation gradually transformed our company’s direction. Today, agrivoltaics has become the core pillar of our growth strategy, enabling us to combine renewable energy deployment with rural development, farmer income stability, and more efficient land utilisation.

Que: How do your agri-voltaic systems balance farm productivity with solar power generation? What are the key challenges you have encountered, and how have you tackled them?

Ans: We balance farm productivity and solar generation through thoughtful engineering combined with agronomic planning. Our Agri-PV systems typically use approximately 4-metre elevated structures, optimised row spacing, and sunlight diffusion modelling to ensure adequate light reaches crops. Layouts are crop-specific, and in select projects, we use separate inverter tagging to compare pure solar and agrivoltaic performance scientifically.

In the early stages, we faced challenges such as farmer scepticism, higher structural CAPEX compared to conventional ground-mounted systems, micro-climate variations under panels, and the absence of standardised Agri-PV guidelines. These factors required both technical refinement and strong on-ground engagement.

To address these issues, we conducted multi-season crop trials, adopted demonstration-based farmer outreach, and integrated soil moisture and crop monitoring systems. We also optimised structural design to control costs and benchmarked performance across solar-only, agriculture-only, and agrivoltaic segments. Our experience shows that with proper crop selection and design optimisation, agricultural productivity can be maintained while solar generation remains commercially viable.

Que: Could you share insights from your flagship installations and what makes them unique in India’s renewable landscape? What types of crops can be cultivated alongside agri-PV plants?

Ans: Our Khargapur Agri-PV Laboratory stands out in India’s renewable landscape due to its five different elevated structural configurations, live multi-season crop trials, integrated irrigation and soil monitoring systems, and continuous data collection for long-term agronomic research. It is also among the earliest PM KUSUM-A integrated Agri-PV demonstration sites in India, functioning not just as a power plant but as a living research and farmer-learning ecosystem.

At the site, we have successfully cultivated wheat, pulses, capsicum, leafy vegetables, strawberries (pilot trials), napier grass (fodder), and other seasonal vegetables.

Our experience indicates that Agri-PV is particularly suitable for semi-shade and shade-tolerant crops, as well as fodder crops in high-temperature regions, making it adaptable across diverse agro-climatic zones.

Que: Recently, rising land leasing costs have emerged as a key bottleneck in the implementation of PM KUSUM Component A. How does agri-PV help in this?

Ans: Land leasing costs under PM KUSUM-A have risen sharply due to increasing competition for suitable parcels and the long tenure of power purchase agreements. Agri-PV offers a structural solution to this bottleneck by enabling farmers to continue agricultural activity while hosting solar infrastructure. This dual-use approach allows landowners to share farm income, enhances per-acre earning potential, reduces resistance to leasing arrangements, and improves the long-term sustainability of project economics. Rather than replacing agriculture, Agri-PV establishes a coexistence model where land becomes more productive, economically resilient, and socially acceptable for renewable energy deployment.

Que: While solar energy generation is growing rapidly, Agri-PV remains a niche segment. What, according to you, are the issues holding it back and how to increase its adoption?

Ans: Agri-PV adoption is currently constrained by:
• Higher initial CAPEX due to elevated structures
• Limited large-scale agronomic data across agro-climatic zones
• The absence of standardised technical guidelines
• Conservative lending approaches
• Policy ambiguity in certain states in land leasing
• Income tax treatment of dual income streams under Agri-PV systems
• Insurance treatment of agri and solar plant assets.

To accelerate adoption, there is a need for MNRE-supported structural incentives, standardised Agri-PV design norms, stronger academic–industry collaboration for data generation, integration of carbon credit mechanisms, and innovative instruments such as blended finance and green bonds.

Large-scale demonstration projects across diverse agro-climatic regions will also be critical.

Ultimately, Agri-PV requires ecosystem-level policy, financial, and research support – not merely EPC execution – to transition from niche to mainstream.

Que: Procurement of DCR solar module with domestic cells is emerging as a key challenge. With the ALMM on solar cells being implemented from June 1, 2026, what kind of impact do you foresee on PM KUSUM projects and agri-PV?

Ans: We anticipate short-term supply tightening, temporary price volatility, extended procurement timelines, and a possible impact on project IRRs – particularly for elevated Agri-PV systems where structural costs are already higher.

However, over the medium to long term, this policy move is expected to strengthen domestic manufacturing capacity and create a more resilient supply ecosystem.

To mitigate near-term risks, we are securing early vendor tie-ups with DCR-compliant manufacturers, adopting forward contracting and pre-booking strategies, diversifying sourcing through multiple suppliers, and prioritising high-efficiency TOPCon and bifacial modules.

Tight procurement planning aligned with commissioning schedules will be critical, and supply chain discipline will remain a key focus in the coming months.

Que: What is your vision for scaling agri-voltaics in India over the next five years?

Ans: Over the next five years, we believe India has the potential to deploy at least 10 GW of Agri-PV capacity, provided the right policy and financial ecosystem is established.

If one conceptually draws a vertical line from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, most large solar projects today are concentrated on the western side of that line, while vast regions of Central and Eastern India remain relatively untapped due to strong agricultural intensity. Agri-PV offers a practical pathway to unlock these regions through distributed, farmer-integrated renewable energy models.

As the industry gradually shifts from large centralised plants toward distributed renewable energy (DRE) systems, Agri-PV becomes a natural evolution – integrating power generation with ongoing agricultural activity.

The Government of India is also actively examining structured Agri-PV policy frameworks, and once a dedicated policy is formalised, we expect the sector’s growth trajectory to accelerate significantly, with clearer standards, incentives, and financing support.

At Khare Energy, our vision aligns with this national transition: building scalable multi-state Agri-PV clusters, enabling farmer SPV-based ownership models, integrating AI-driven monitoring and agronomic data platforms, and positioning Agri-PV as a mainstream land-use solution.

The future of renewable energy in India will not be about choosing between agriculture and solar; it will be about designing systems where both thrive together, where the Sun shines twice – once for food and once for energy.