Govt expands PM KUSUM scheme for solar pumps, targets to cover 20 lakh farmers

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced expansion of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) Scheme under which 20 lakh farmers would be provided funds to set up standalone solar pumps.

While presenting the budget for 2020-21, the minister said that 15 lakh farmers would be provided funds to set up grid-connected 15 lakh solar pumps.

The previous Modi government in February last year had unveiled the PM KUSUM scheme with an outlay of  ₹34,422 crore.

Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha that the scheme has removed farmers’ dependence on diesel and kerosene and linked them to solar energy. The scheme also enables the farmers to set up solar power generation capacity and sell it to the grid.

She stressed that farmers would be able to earn livelihood through their baron land also (by generating solar power on that).

The PM KUSUM scheme had three components — 10,000 megawatts (MW) of decentralised ground mounted grid-connected renewable power plants (Component-A); installation of 17.50 lakh standalone solar powered agriculture pumps (Component-B); and solarisation of 10 lakh grid-connected solar powered agriculture pumps (Component-C).

All three components combined, the scheme had aimed to add a solar capacity of 25,750 MW by 2022.

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