Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan to be launched

Aiming to provide financial security and water security to farmers, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs headed by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan.

The proposed scheme consists of three components:

Component-A: 10,000 MW of Decentralized Ground Mounted Grid Connected Renewable Power Plants.

Component-B: Installation of 17.50 lakh standalone Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps.

Component-C: Solarisation of 10 Lakh Grid-connected Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps.

All three components combined, the scheme aims to add a solar capacity of 25,750 MW by 2022. The total central financial support provided under the scheme would be Rs. 34,422 crore.

It is planned to implement Component B completely while Component A and Component C would be implemented in a pilot mode beginning with 1000 MW capacity under Component A and 1 lakh grid-connected to solar powered agriculture pumps under Component C. These would be scaled up upon successful completion of the pilot runs.

Under the Component A, renewable power plants having capacities ranging from 500 KW to 2 MW would be setup on barren lands or cultivable lands by farmers, cooperatives, Farmer producer organizations (FPO), panchayats. DISCOMs would then purchase the power generated at tariffs that respective SERC determine. In addition to generating a stable, continuous income for the land owners, this would also provide performance base incentives to the DISCOMs for five years at the rate of Rs.0.40 per unit.

Under the component B, support would be provided to the farmers for installing solar pumps having capacity up to 7.5HP. This scheme would allow solar pv capacity in KW equivalent to pump capacity in HP.

Under Component C, support would be provided to farmers to solarise the pumps having capacity up to 7.5HP.This scheme would allow solar PV capacity of up to twice the capacity in kW. The energy generated could be used for irrigation needs and the excess energy sold to DISCOM. Besides creating a source of extra income for the farmers, this would also help the states to meet their RPO targets.

Central Financial Assistance for the lower of 30% of the benchmark cost or tender cost would be provided for the component B and Component C. 30% subsidy would be provided by the state government and the farmers would have to bear the remaining 40%. For 30% of this cost, financing through banks would be made available and the remaining 10% would have to be borne by the farmer.  States/UTs like Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, North Eastern States and Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands would get more CFA of 50%.

In addition to generating additional source of income for the farmers, this scheme is expected to have a huge environmental impact in terms of reduction in CO2 emissions. From all the three components, close to 27 million tones of CO2 emissions is expected to be reduced per annum. Additionally around 1.2 billion liter of diesel is expected to be saved annually from the component B. With this the import of crude oil is expected to reduce resulting in savings in foreign exchange.

In addition to the cost and environmental benefits, this scheme also has great employment potential and is expected to add 6.31 lakhs job years for skilled as well as unskilled workers.