The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) launched the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evem Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) Scheme to enable farmers to install solar pumps and grid-connected solar and other renewable power plants across the country.

We aim to provide energy and water security to farmers, enhance their income, de-dieselize the farm sector, and reduce environmental pollution. The Government of India launched PM-KUSUM on 08.03.2019. During 2020-21, we scaled up and expanded the scheme from its pilot stage, with approval from the Ministry of Finance. In August 2022, we extended the scheme until March 2026.

Our goal is to add 34,800 MW of solar capacity by March 2026, with total central financial support of Rs 34,422 crore.

Overview of this scheme

The scheme includes three components:

  • Component A: Farmers will install 10,000 MW of decentralized grid-connected solar or other renewable energy power plants on their property, either on stilts or on the ground.
  • Component B: We will install 14 lakh independent solar agriculture pumps.
  • Component C: We will solarize 35 lakh grid-connected agricultural pumps, including feeder-level solarization.We have made the following changes to the scheme for the extended period beyond 2022 and until March 2026.

What are the benefits of PM KUSUM Yojana ?

Farming is not an easy task, it does not just require blood and sweat but a lot of money too. However, to curtail the financial burden the government came up with this scheme. Top benefits of this scheme are:

  • The Indian Government will initiate the installation of solar plants with a maximum aggregation power limit of 28,250 MW.
  • Under this scheme, the government will subsidize 60% and provide a loan of 30% of the total cost, which means farmers have to just bear 10% of the total cost.
  • As per KUSUM Scheme details, our Government will provide subsidies to install state-of-the-art solar pumps. These pumps hold a capacity of 720 MV.
  • Also, under this scheme farmers hold an opportunity of selling the extra generated power directly to our Government,resulting in an increase of income.
  • Farmers can employ both their barren and fertile land, as the solar plants are installed at a height, which in turn becomes a leg up.
  • The KUSUM scheme will also promote eco-friendly cultivation while increasing the use of renewable energy.

Scheme benefits

The scheme will open a stable and continuous source of income to the rural land owners for a period of 25 years by utilisation of their dry/uncultivable land. Further, in case cultivated fields are chosen for setting up solar power project, the farmers could continue to grow crops as the solar panels are to be set up above a minimum height.

The scheme would ensure that sufficient local solar/ other renewable energy based power is available for feeding rural load centres and agriculture pump-set loads, which require power mostly during the day time. As these power plants will be located closer to the agriculture loads or to electrical substations in a decentralized manner, it will result in reduced Transmission losses for STUs and Discoms. Moreover, the scheme will also help the Discoms to achieve the RPO target

The solar pumps will save the expenditure incurred on diesel for running diesel pump and provide the farmers a reliable source of irrigation through solar pump apart from preventing harmful pollution from running diesel pump. In light of the long waiting list for electric grid connection, this scheme will benefit 17.5 lakh farmers over a period of four years, without adding to the grid load.