Farmers need a share of the solar boom

Why in the News

India’s solar capacity has grown sixtyfold since 2014, mostly through utilities and rooftop households. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM), the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s scheme for farmers, has lagged. The Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) proposes agri-photovoltaics, so farmland yields food and power.

What is PM-KUSUM Component A, and why has it lagged?

1. What it is: Component A lets a farmer build a solar plant of up to 2 MW on his land and sell its power, like growing electricity as a crop.
2. Why it was added: PM-KUSUM began with solar pumps; Component A added income from selling power.
3. What went wrong: With no capital subsidy, a farmer must raise the full plant cost himself, so the scheme has not yet succeeded.
4. The takeaway: Farmers hold the land solar needs but not the capital to use it, so the boom has passed them by.

Who has gained from the solar boom so far?

1. Global standing: India ranks third in solar, after China and the United States.
2. Utility scale parks: About 74 percent of capacity sits in large parks on government provided wasteland, run by firms such as NTPC. Eg. Khavda Solar Park, Gujarat.
3. Rooftop households: Rooftop solar holds about 20 percent, driven by Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, whose subsidies cover about 60 percent of a household system.
4. Finance gap: Surya Ghar has a World Bank loan; PM-KUSUM has none.

How would agri-photovoltaics bring farmers in?

1. Agri-photovoltaics: Agri-PV mounts panels about 11 feet above the ground with spacing for crops underneath, so one field yields food and power.
2. Subsidy and cheap credit: Component A needs a Surya Ghar style subsidy. Farmers and farmer producer companies (FPCs) should get Priority Sector Lending, the cheaper credit banks must give agriculture.
3. Feed-in tariff: This is the fixed price a distribution company (discom) pays per unit fed into the grid. A tariff of Rs 4.5 per kWh makes projects viable.
4. Solar cooperatives: The World Bank financed Operation Flood, the dairy cooperative drive, and should back solar cooperatives too. This “PM Surya Khet Kranti” makes solar the “third crop“.

Why would it pay, and what is the trade-off with food?

1. Food versus energy: Ground mounted solar on farmland displaces food crops, so the writers want it banned.
2. Three objectives: Agri-PV under Component A serves three objectives:
   • Farm income: rises eight to ten times, as an ICRIER pilot in Rajasthan showed through power sales and shade tolerant horticulture;
   • Power subsidy bill: falls, because farm power costs about Rs 8.5 per kWh to supply, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) estimates, but farmers pay about Rs 1;
   • Rural industrialisation: clean energy helps rural areas industrialise.
3. No new spending: A feed-in tariff near half the supply cost can come from the existing farm power subsidy.

Challenges

1. Scale of farm demand: Agriculture uses nearly 260,000 GWh a year, priced far below cost, so agri-PV must scale widely to matter.
2. Discom payment delays: Loss making discoms pay generators late, so power sales are unreliable income.
3. Rising demand needs storage: Artificial intelligence (AI) data centres consume heavy power, so new solar must come with storage.

Way Forward

1. Aggregate through FPCs: Route agri-PV plants through FPCs and cooperatives so small holdings pool land and credit.
2. Differentiated tariff: State regulators should notify a separate agri-PV feed-in tariff.
3. Storage in design: Plan agri-PV with battery or pumped hydro storage beyond lithium-ion.

Conclusion

India can scale solar, but farmers, who hold most of the land, own almost none of it. Whether Component A gets Surya Ghar style support and a paying tariff will decide if solar also raises rural incomes.

Key numbers

1. Solar capacity: 2.82 GW (2014) to 168.04 GW (August 2026); Khavda Solar Park 30 GW.
2. Surya Ghar: Rs 78,000 central subsidy for 3 kW, plus Rs 30,000 in Uttar Pradesh, against Rs 1.8 lakh cost; 1 crore households; outlay Rs 75,021 crore; World Bank loan $820 million.
3. ICRIER pilot: 600 kW; income about Rs 40,000 to nearly Rs 4 lakh per acre; Rs 1.4 crore State Bank of India loan, Rs 60 lakh farmer share, Rs 35 lakh Kotak corporate social responsibility funds.
4. Tariff subsidy bill: Rs 2.35 lakh crore a year; agriculture may bear 85 percent.

Government initiatives for solar energy

1. Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme: Rewards domestic manufacture of solar cells and modules.
2. Green Energy Corridors: Transmission lines carrying large solar and wind output into the grid.
3. Battery storage viability gap funding: Part funds battery storage to steady renewable supply.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2026] Which of the following statements with regard to Green Hydrogen is/are correct? 1. It is decarbonized hydrogen obtained from natural gas reforming combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS). 2. It is produced using electrolysis of water with electricity generated by renewable energy. 3. National Green Hydrogen Mission of India aims for abatement of nearly 50 MMT of annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. (a) 1 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 2 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 Answer: B”