Presenting the budget for the union territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed the installation of 4,000 new solar agricultural pumps in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24).

Further, the budget would also provide resources for replacing 5,000 existing conventional agricultural pumps with solar pumps under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Uthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM).

The budget size for the UT was ₹1.2 trillion (~$14 billion), and it was presented in Lok Sabha.

The budget provided for the commissioning of around 80 MW of rooftop solar capacity under the Jammu Solar City Project in the next financial year, covering about 20,000 households in the Union Territory.

Last year, the Administrative Council of J&K approved the installation of 200 MW of grid-connected solar systems on 50,000 residential buildings in Jammu under the Solar City Mission program, which would cost ₹10.4 billion (~$132.12 million).

Sitharaman proposed that the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy work towards achieving 10 MW of rooftop solar installed capacity for 3,000 families. Also, the government will install around 3 MW of rooftop solar in Srinagar under the Srinagar Smart City Project.

The Union finance minister further said that 50 buildings in Srinagar and 20 government buildings in various districts would have grid-connected rooftop solar under the first phase. She added that all government building rooftop installations would be covered under the mission mode.

During the FY 2023-24, the independent power producers in J&K will be allotted 72 MW of small hydropower projects of at least 2-10 MW capacity.

Further, the budget provided for the construction of Urja Bhavan in the Channi Himmat colony of Jammu by the end of the year.

The Union government aims to also fund 100 research and development projects in J&K under the budget.

In March last year, Solar Energy Corporation of India invited bids for the design, engineering, construction, erection, testing, and commissioning of a 5 MW grid-connected saffron-based agro-solar power project in the Pulwama district of J&K.