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Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahaabhiyan (KUSUM) Scheme: at Present

The KUSUM scheme aims to promote solar energy use among Indian farmers through three main components: building large solar plants, solarizing existing irrigation pumps, and distributing standalone solar water pumps. It has a budget of 1.4 trillion rupees and targets deploying over 28 GW of decentralized solar power. The scheme could provide farmers extra income and energy security while reducing subsidies and groundwater exploitation if accompanied by reforms like mandatory micro-irrigation and restrictions on overuse of pumps.

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Jeffin Emmanuel Jose
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57 views

Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahaabhiyan (KUSUM) Scheme: at Present

The KUSUM scheme aims to promote solar energy use among Indian farmers through three main components: building large solar plants, solarizing existing irrigation pumps, and distributing standalone solar water pumps. It has a budget of 1.4 trillion rupees and targets deploying over 28 GW of decentralized solar power. The scheme could provide farmers extra income and energy security while reducing subsidies and groundwater exploitation if accompanied by reforms like mandatory micro-irrigation and restrictions on overuse of pumps.

Uploaded by

Jeffin Emmanuel Jose
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahaabhiyan

(KUSUM) Scheme
At present, despite burgeoning farm power subsidies, nearly 30 million
farmers, especially marginal landholders, use expensive diesel for their
irrigation needs as they have no access to electricity. More than half of India’s
net sown-area remains unirrigated.
The Government is formulating a Scheme Kisan Urja Suraksha evam
Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM) which inter-alia aims to promote use of solar
energy among the farmers. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
(MNRE) has brought this scheme.
KUSUM scheme is a ₹1.4 lakh-crore scheme for promoting
decentralised solar power production of up to 28,250 MW to help farmers.

The components of the scheme include


1. Building 10,000 MW solar plants on barren lands and providing sops to
DISCOMS to purchase the electricity produced
2. Solarising existing pumps of 7250 MW as well as government tube wells
with a capacity of 8250 MW to make farmers independent of grid supply and
sell surplus power generated to DISCOMs
3. Distributing 17.5 lakh standalone off grid solar water pumps. The 60%
subsidy on the solar pumps provided to farmers will be shared between the
Centre and the States while 30% would be provided through bank loans. The
balance cost 10% has to be borne by the farmers.

Advantages of the scheme


It would provide extra income to farmers, by giving them an option to sell
additional power to the grid through solar power projects set up on their
barren lands. It would help in de-dieselising the sector.
It would promote decentralized solar power production, reduction of
transmission losses as well as providing support to the financial health of
DISCOMs by reducing the subsidy burden to the agriculture sector. The
scheme would also provide water security to farmers. It is also essential to
achieve the country's 100 GW solar target by 2022. As solar power is cheaper
than diesel, in states like Bihar, where farmers largely use diesel pumps, off-
grid solar pumps will reduce the cost of irrigation significantly.
In Punjab, where electric pumps dominate and the power subsidy to the
agricultural sector is about `7000 crore annually, solarisation of agriculture
feeders will reduce the subsidy burden significantly.

Negatives of the Scheme


Over exploitation of groundwater: a high possibility of overuse of these
pumps, leading to groundwater depletion.
The KUSUM scheme fails to promote efficient irrigation and incorporate
explicit and strict measures against groundwater exploitation.
The scheme only mentions exploring the possibility of its convergence with
state-level schemes for promoting the micro-irrigation systems and energy-
efficient pumps instead of mandating the same
The World Bank predicts that around 60% of the aquifers in India
will be in a critical state by 2032 if we do not change the current practice of
overexploitation of groundwater for irrigation.

Way ahead
The central government could push massive irrigation reforms in states
through this scheme. For instance, KUSUM should only be extended to
states willing to take strong measures to improve irrigation efficiency and
control exploitation of groundwater. It must mandate micro-irrigation for
solar pump beneficiaries. Groundwater extraction must be closely monitored
and strict mandates on pump size and bore-well depth must be set.
Supporting low water-intensive crops in water-scare regions, too, is crucial.
Deployment of off-grid solar pumps must be restricted to areas
where the grid has not reached and groundwater is abundant.
Solarisation of rural feeders should be the preferred solution, given
that it is most economical and provides additional income to farmers.
However, this should be accompanied by a gradual increase in electricity
tariffs, which is crucial to control groundwater exploitation and reduce the
burden of agricultural subsidy.
Given the central role of discoms, electricity regulators need to
ensure that solar pumps and decentralised plants are allowed to evacuate
power to the grids easily and payments are made to the farmers regularly.
It is also essential that distribution companies pay fair rates to farmers for
the electricity they purchase from their solar arrays.
KUSUM should aim to reduce the existing disparity among States
with regard to solar pumps deployment and irrigation access. Chhattisgarh
and Rajasthan together account for about half of the two lakh solar pumps
currently deployed in the country. On the other hand, States such as Bihar,
Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, where penetration of diesel pumps is among
the highest, have not managed to deploy any significant number of solar
pumps.
This disparity highlights poor State budget allocation towards solar
pumps and the lack of initiative by State nodal agencies.
It should also try to address the inequality within a State. 90% of
Bihar’s farmers are small and marginal. Yet, they have received only 50% of
government subsidies on solar pumps. On the other hand, in Chhattisgarh,
about 95% of beneficiaries are from socially disadvantaged groups due to the
mandate of the State.
Learning from these contrasting examples, a share of central financial
assistance under KUSUM should be appropriated for farmers with small
landholdings and belonging to socially disadvantaged groups.
It should also address the inequality between farmers. Instead of a
one-size-fits-all approach, KUSUM should provide greater financial assistance
to smaller farmers. A higher capital subsidy support to small and marginal
farmers and long-term loans with interest subsidies for large and medium
farmers would be a more economical and equitable alternative.
Solarising existing grid-connected pumps needs a complete rethink.
Existing grid-connected farmers, who have enjoyed power subsidies for
decades, would receive the same financial support as that received by an off-
grid farmer.
In addition, they would earn regular income from the DISCOM on feeding
surplus electricity, furthering the inequitable distribution of taxpayers’
resources.

Solar Trees
Farmers should be encouraged to grow “solar trees” on their lands at a height
of about 10-12 feet in a manner that enough sunlight keeps coming to plants
below. Under this variant, the farmer can keep growing two irrigated crops as
he has been doing, but the solar tree generates a lot of excess power that can
be purchased by the state government.
The problem is of mobilising enough capital to instal these solar trees. In one
acre you can have 500 solar trees in such a manner that even tractors can
move through those and farmers can keep growing their normal two crops. It
does not impact their productivity as there is ample sunlight coming from the
sides for photosynthesis.
The second pre-condition is that the state should be ready to do the power
purchase agreement.
The Delhi government actually announced a policy to that effect.

About Solar energy in India


Advantages
Solar Energy is available throughout
the day which is the peak load
demand time.
Solar energy conversion equipments
have longer life and need lesser
maintenance and hence provide
higher energy infrastructure
security.
Low running costs & grid tie-up
capital returns (Net Metering).
Unlike conventional thermal power
generation from coal, they do not
cause pollution and generate clean
power.
No overhead wires- no transmission loss

Challenges in adoption
India’s solar story is largely built over imported products.
India’s domestic content requirement clause is facing legal challenge at WTO.
India is facing challenge to balance Prioritising domestic goals and WTO
commitments.
The dumping of products is leading to profit erosion of local
manufacturers.Indian domestic manufacturers aren’t technically and
economically strong to compete with Chinese companies.
Land availability in India for solar plant is less due to high population density.

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