All About Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM)’
Solar water pumps to be installed in remote areas for irrigation needs Farmers can get extra income by selling surplus solar power to DISCOMs
With an aim to promote the use of solar power among farmers, the government is all set to launch Rs 1.4 crore KUSUM scheme .
(i) installation of grid-connected solar power plants each of capacity up to 2 MW in the rural areas;
(ii) installation of standalone off-grid solar water pumps to fulfill irrigation needs of farmers not connected to grid;
(iii) solarization of existing grid-connected agriculture pumps to make farmers independent of grid supply and also enable them to sell surplus solar power generated to DISCOM and get extra income; and
(iv) solarization of tube-wells and lift irrigation projects of Government sector.
Government’s plan
The government has planned to provide 27.5 lakh solar pumps (17.50 lakh standalone + 10 Lakh Grid-connected) under the scheme. It will help farmers install total 10 GW of Solar Power Plants of intermediate capacity of 0.5 to 2 MW each. It also envisages 50,000 Grid-connected tube-wells/lift irrigation and drinking water projects. Singh also gave assurance about bringing the hydro power policy and expressed hope to roll out the Rs 16,000 crore plan for beleaguered hydro power capacities in the country.
Last four year achievements
On the achievements of his government, PTI reported RK Singh saying: “Last four years have been path breaking. You compare it with what happened in last 48 years. I asked my ministries to compare the 48 years and our 4 years. The comparison was an eye opener.” He also said: “In the 48 years before 2014, the pace of capacity addition in generation was about 4,800 MW per year. In our 48 months, the pace of capacity addition was about 24000 MW per year. That is 4.8 times more. We added One lakh MW of generation capacity in four years.
The Rs 48,000-crore incentives under KUSUM will aid total solar power generation capacity of 28,250
MW entailing an investment of Rs 1.4 lakh crore over the next 10 years, Singh had said earlier.
KUSUM has four components.
First is utilisation of barren land by farmers. The government is expecting 10,000 MW under this.
For this ground-mounted 10,000 MW, no subsidy would be provided to buy equipment, but discoms
would be given 50 paise per unit as generation based incentives to buy power from farmers for five
years. Subsidy component will be Rs 4,875 crore.
Second component includes installation of 17.5 lakh off grid solar farm pumps. The government will
provide Rs 22,000 crore to farmers to buy the equipment.
Third component is solarisation of grid-connected farm pumps involving 7,250 MW capacity. The
subsidy for this would be Rs 15,750 crore.
Similarly, government departments’ grid connected water pumps would be solarised, involving 2,500
MW. It would take four years to solarise these pumps and the subsidy component would be Rs 5,000
crore.
Regarding storage mission he said:”We are setting aside Rs 300-400 crore (outlay) for National
Battery Storage Mission. We are most likely to locate it in SECI (Solar Energy Corporation of India).
This will be for R&D. We are going to attach storage to wind and solar projects. If we are bidding out
2,000 MW solar for instance, then the storage would be for 100 -200 MW.”
The minister also said Rs 16,000 crore hydro policy has been finalised and will be placed before the
Cabinet in the coming days.
Regarding safeguard duties, he said:”It is still under examination. There has to be transparency and
stability in the duty regime. There cannot be surprises. Whatever is the duty structure at the time of
bid, (that) will be applied to the project.”
Singh also said he had asked officials to come up with expression of interest (EOI) in next 2 months
for 1,000 MW offshore wind capacity in Gujarat and thereafter the government will go for RFP (request
for proposal).
On charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) he said it is a question of law whether charging
EVs is sale of electricity or service.