In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy, Shripad Naik shared an overview of the different components of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme.
The following are the three components:
- Component-A: Under this component, farmers can set-up up to 2 MW of decentralised ground/ stilt mounted grid-connected solar or other renewable energy based power plants on their land. The renewable energy power plant can be installed by the farmers on their own land either directly by themselves or in partnership with group of farmers/ cooperatives/ panchayats/ farmer producer organisations/ water user associations, or through a developer. The renewable power generated from these power-plant is purchased by distribution companies (discom) at the pre-fixed levelised tariff. In case farmers lease their land to the developer they are also eligible for lease rent. Discoms are eligible to get a performance-based incentive (PBI) of Re 0.40 per unit or Rs 660,000 per MW of capacity installed, whichever is less, for a period of five years from the commercial operation date. The discoms can pass on the PBI given to them by the central government under this component, to the renewable power plant owner to get a more competitive tariff.
- Component-B: Under this component farmers can install the stand-alone solar agriculture pumps for irrigation. The government provides a central financial assistance (CFA) of 30 per cent (or 50 per cent for north eastern region/hilly region/islands) for the stand-alone solar agriculture pump.
- Component-C: This component enables solarisation of grid-connected agriculture pumps under its individual pump solarisation (IPS) mode and feeder level solarisation (FLS) of agricultural load. The government provides a CFA of 30 per cent (or 50 per cent for the north eastern region/hilly region/islands) under component-C for both IPS and FLS. This enables the farmers to access day-time assured solar energy.
PM -KUSUM has benefitted 411,222 farmers all over the country as of June 30, 2024.
