The Minister of Power R.K. Singh told the Parliament that the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) program has benefited over 200,000 farmers as of February 28.

Solar capacity of 89.45 MW has been installed under Component-A of the program. Additionally, approximately 209,000 pumps have been reported as installed or solarized under Component-B and Component-C.

Rajasthan has the highest number of beneficiaries among states, with 57,692 farmers enrolled in the program.

Other states with a significant number of beneficiaries include Maharashtra with 47,978, Haryana with 44,325, and Punjab with 12,459.

However, states like West Bengal and Kerala have underperformed, with 20 and 51 farmers as beneficiaries, respectively.

In all, the program has benefitted 208,648 farmers across the country.

The total installed solar capacity under the program stands at 1.14 GW.

The PM-KUSUM Scheme comprises three distinct components:

Component-A involves the installation of small solar power plants, with a combined capacity of up to 10,000 MW, on barren, fallow, pasture, marshy, or cultivable land owned by farmers. Each plant will have a capacity of up to 2 MW.

Component-B focuses on installing 2 million standalone solar water pumps, which will be used to irrigate farmland.

Component-C is dedicated to the solarization of 1.5 million existing grid-connected agriculture pumps, with the possibility of implementing feeder-level solarization.

In November 2020, the program’s scope was expanded to include a higher target of 30,800 MW of solar power capacity.

The Covid-19 pandemic adversely impacted the implementation of the PM-KUSUM Scheme.

Consequently, the state implementing agencies requested an extension of the timeline for executing the projects under the program.

In response, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) conducted a third-party evaluation of the program, and following its recommendations, the program has been extended until March 31, 2026.

Recently, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy granted a final extension to solar projects pending installation under Component A of program to September 30, 2023, citing the difficulties faced by farmers in accessing finance during the initial phase.

In May last year, in order to support the projects under the KUSUM program, the MNRE scrapped the need for a separate performance bank guarantee for solar projects to be set up under Component A of the program.