The Jammu and Kashmir administration has given the green signal for the solarisation of 4,000 agricultural water pumps, marking a step towards leveraging solar power for agricultural needs in the state.
The administrative council meeting led by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, approved the move of solarising 4,000 individual grid-connected agricultural pumps. Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo was also in attendance during this meeting.
This initiative falls under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Uthaan Mahaabhiyan, popularly called as PM-KUSUM scheme. The PM-KUSUM Scheme was designed to ensure energy security for farmers across India and aims to increase the share of non-fossil-fuel energy sources to 40 percent by 2030.
The solarisation in Jammu and Kashmir aims to introduce grid-connected solar power plants varying in capacity from 1kilowatt to 15 kilowatts. Farmers who actively participate in this scheme are said to gain access to solar-generated power to fulfill their irrigation needs effectively.
Furthermore, surplus solar energy produced by these installations can be sold to distribution companies (discoms). These discoms will reportedly be legally bound to compensate farmers according to the tariff established by the Jammu and Kashmir State Electricity Regulatory Commission (JKSERC).
A media report stated that beyond its environmental benefits of curbing pollution, the conversion of agricultural pumps to solar power will provide farmers with a dependable source of irrigation for their farms.
This move seeks to alleviate revenue losses incurred by the discoms, which currently subsidize irrigation pumps at Rs 0.66 per unit of electricity, significantly lower than the average tariff of Rs 3.50 per unit.
