ITP-WLE-CCAFS's field pilot in Dhundi has inspired the Government of India to include grid-connected solar pumps in its plans for KUSUM. Shah explores what it would take to effectively implement the scheme...
Kick-starting KUSUM (Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahaabhiyan)
Tushaar Shah
The Union Budget 2018 announced
Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahaabhiyan (KUSUM), a prodigious ₹140,000 crore scheme to replace diesel pumps and grid-connected electric tubewells for irrigation by solar irrigation pumps (SIPs) with a buy-back arrangement for farmers' surplus solar energy at a remunerative price. KUSUM can be a game changer. It can check groundwater over-exploitation, offer farmers day-time uninterrupted power supply, reduce carbon footprint of agriculture, curtail farm power subsidy burden and, most of all, provide a new source of risk-free income for farmers. However, for kick-starting KUSUM, Government of India needs to propose a well-articulated implementation strategy. We explore what this might be.
The Union Budget 2018 announced Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahaabhiyan (KUSUM), a prodigious ₹140,000 crore scheme to replace diesel pumps and grid-connected electric tubewells for irrigation by solar irrigation pumps (SIPs) with a buy-back arrangement for farmers' surplus solar energy at a remunerative price. KUSUM can be a game changer. It can check groundwater over-exploitation, offer farmers day-time uninterrupted power supply, reduce carbon footprint of agriculture, curtail farm power subsidy burden and, most of all, provide a new source of risk-free income for farmers. However, for kick-starting KUSUM, Government of India needs to propose a well-articulated implementation strategy. We explore what this might be.
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