States have cumulatively placed demand for 6,521 megawatts (MW) of solar power capacity as well as more than 80.90 lakh solar pumps under the PM-KUSUM scheme.
PM-KUSUM, or the Pradhan Mantri Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyaan, aims to provide water and energy security to farmers and enhance their income. It was cleared in February 2019.
In response to a question in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Power Minister R K Singh in written response said that for allocation of solar capacity and pumps, demand is solicited from States. Based on demands received and progress reported, allocations are made under the scheme.
The demands received under the government’s rural green energy push is for a period till March 2026. The government wants to replace diesel with renewable energy (RE) in the farm sector to make it diesel free by 2024.
Demands
State have cumulatively placed demands for 6,521 MW of solar power capacity on barren land of farmers under Component A of the scheme, which envisages setting up 10,000 MW decentralised ground or stilt mounted solar power plants on barren/farm lands.
The highest demand is from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana and Odisha.
Similarly, under Component B of PM-KUSUM, which aims to install 20 lakh standalone solar pumps in off-grid areas, has received a total demand of 19.73 lakh pumps, with the lion’s share coming from UP, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.
Likewise, the Component C, which seeks to solarise 15 lakh grid connected agriculture pumps through individual pump solarisation (IPS) and feeder level solarisation (FLS), has received a cumulative demand of 61.20 lakh. The highest demand has come from UP, Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala.
The demands made by the states are year-wise till March 31, 2026. Allocations are being made based on year-wise demand, progress made by the state and the capacity available for allocation under the scheme.
Implementation
Under Component A, the government has sanctioned 4,913 MW of which 89.45 MW capacity has been installed as of February 2023.
On the other hand, the Ministry has sanctioned 9.54 lakh off-grid solar pumps (Component B), of which 2.07 lakh pumps have been installed, while under Component C 25.5 lakh IPS and FLS pumps have been sanctioned. Of the total, a mere 1,212 pumps have been installed.
The pace of implementation of PM-KUSUM was significantly affected due to the Covid-19 pandemic during FY21 and FY22. Besides, the availability of low-cost financing for farmers and state share of funds is a major challenge.