By Sarita Brara
Sixty-two-year-old Karnail Singh’s family installed its first solar water pump, of 5 HP capacity, in 2019. The family, which lives in Damot Kalan village in Ludhiana district of Punjab, installed another one, of 7.5 HP capacity, two years later. They spent Rs 65,000 and Rs 136,000 respectively on the two pumps after availing of the subsidy provided by the centre and the state. Today, besides irrigating the 16 acres of land that he shares with two other family members, Karnail Singh uses this solar power to run agricultural machinery.
Meanwhile, his family members use solar power for operating lights, an air conditioner and a cooler at home. He gets a zero electricity bill. He says that since he needs to irrigate his land for just three months in a year, he would like to sell the surplus solar power to the grid.
Earlier, Karnail Singh used diesel to run his water pumps, which caused air and sound pollution besides costing him thousands of rupees. A progressive farmer with a postgraduate degree, he installed a drip irrigation system, which he has been using for over 25 years, to ensure no water is wasted. His land comes under the dark zone where the groundwater level is 84 feet deep. He used to grow vegetables earlier, but has shifted to paddy and wheat cultivation in the past few years. He does not burn the paddy stubble, but uses it as manure by mixing it with other ingredients, thus preventing pollution.
“I have been able to save the money that I used to spend on diesel for running the generator for pumping water, and save on labour and maintenance costs. Besides, there is no pollution,” he says.
Gurvinder Singh Chahal, a BSc in agriculture who chose to become a professional agriculturist, has around 27 acres of land in Chanan Khera village, Fazilka district. He shares it with his brother and his family. He mainly grows kinnow and cotton, and has four solar water pumps for irrigating the crops. Chahal installed three solar water pumps of 5 HP capacity each in 2019 and one 3 HP solar water pump in 2022.
He says, “With solar pumps, I have been able to save almost Rs 0.6 million, which is equal to the amount I spent in the past three years on diesel, labour and other operational costs.”
“Moreover, a solar water pump can be operated by the click of a button. There is no noise pollution, and hardly any maintenance cost. It is basically a one-time investment, which too is highly subsidised,” he adds.
Chahal says that if he were to buy a solar water pumping system of 5 HP capacity from the market, he would have had to shell out Rs 225,000. However, due to the subsidies provided by the centre and the state, the three 5 HP submersible water pumps cost him Rs 65,000 each. However, the 3 HP surface solar water pump cost him Rs 72,000 because of the escalation in prices. He has constructed open water tanks for storage, which are used for pumping water when required.
Sairam, also from Fazilka district, has 2 acres of land. He has installed a 3 HP solar water pump. Belonging to Kalar Khera village, he stores the water from a canal in what he calls a “12×8 dicky”. He grows wheat and cotton and also has some kinnow plants. “We get khaara water (saline water), and, therefore, I need to source water from the canal to irrigate my kinnow plants. The canal sometimes overflows, breaking the banks, and sometimes goes dry. So I need to store water in the dicky,” he says. It is only after the installation of the solar water pump, Sairam says, that he realised how beneficial and hassle-free the system is. Rajesh Bansal, joint director, Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA), says their endeavour is to see that the maximum number of farmers with small holdings are able to avail of the benefits under the solar pump scheme.
While the centre provides 30 per cent subsidy for solar water pumps under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) for the installation of 3 HP, 5 HP, 7.5 HP and 10 HP capacity solar water pumps, the Punjab government provides an additional 30 per cent subsidy. Farmers belonging to Scheduled Castes get an additional 20 per cent subsidy from the state government, which means that 80 per cent of the cost is met through subsidies for these farmers. Ten per cent of the allocation of pumps is reserved for Scheduled Caste farmers. Farmers with 2 acres, 5 acres and a minimum of 10 acres of agricultural land can avail of subsidy for pumps with a capacity of 3 HP and 5 HP; 7.5 HP; and 10 HP respectively.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) first introduced the solar water pumping scheme in 1999-2000 to promote the use of solar energy by providing an 80 per cent subsidy and the Punjab government also provided a 10 per cent subsidy. A total of 1,850 pumps of 2 HP capacity were installed in the state during the period from 2000-01 to 2003-04.
Under the National Solar Mission, PEDA installed 105 solar pumps of 2 HP capacity during 2013-14. The central government and the state government provided 30 per cent and 40 per cent subsidies respectively for these solar pumping systems. Further, 2,970 solar pumps of 3 HP and 5 HP capacities were installed in Punjab during 2018-19 and 2019-20 for which the centre and the Punjab government provided 30 per cent and 50 per cent subsidy respectively. In all, from 2000-01 till 2018-19, 4,925 solar water pumps were installed in the state.
The PM-KUSUM scheme was launched in March 2019 and scaled up in November 2020, to provide affordable and accessible power to farmers. The scheme is demand-driven and capacities are allocated based on demands received from the states or union territories.
The scheme has become quite popular with farmers in the state, says Bansal. The response has been so overwhelming, he says, that the online applications they open for inviting applications for solar water pumps for 10 days are exhausted within four to five days. People have become quite aware of the benefits of solar power thanks to advertisements in local newspapers and other media.
Like Karnail Singh, Chahal too feels that the surplus solar power could be connected to the grid and more money could be earned. The installation of Universal Solar Pump Controllers (USPCs) can enable farmers to use solar power for operating chaff cutters, floor mills, cold storage, dryers, etc.
Chahal feels, “Tube wells being run on electricity in the state of Punjab could be run on solar power with almost 300 shadow-free days in a year.”
“The farmers in Punjab are spreading greenery and they could even earn from carbon credits, provided the government creates a system of certification as it is not individually possible to hire a private party for this purpose,” he suggests.
At present, over 12,900 solar water pumps have been installed in the state under the scheme and 33,728 acres of land are being irrigated using surface and submersible water pumps.
The solar pumping scheme is mainly implemented in safe groundwater blocks for all types of irrigation activities and in dark zone blocks for the replacement of diesel pumps, provided these are working on micro-irrigation systems.
PEDA plans to invite applications for the installation of 20,000 solar water pumps across the state under Component B of the PM-KUSUM scheme. Called the bread basket of India, Punjab can install up to 78,000 solar water pumps under the scheme.
