In the 2026-27 funds, the outlay for the PM-KUSUM scheme practically doubled to Rs 5,000 crore, signalling the federal government’s renewed emphasis on rising solar power production centred on India’s farmers. Specifically, the scheme goals to supply power and water safety to farmers, improve incomes, and decarbonise the farm sector via decentralised photo voltaic pumps and energy crops.
But because the scheme evolves, India additionally faces a query: how can photo voltaic be expanded on agricultural land with out compromising meals safety?
Agri-photovoltaics (agriPV) is rising as a promising reply to this query. AgriPV integrates photo voltaic methods with farming, permitting farmers to generate electrical energy and domesticate crops on the identical parcel of land. The panels are mounted at an acceptable top to permit farm operations beneath, and are spaced between crop rows or built-in into greenhouses to minimise battle between agricultural manufacturing and power technology.
Selecting proper crops
The designs range by crop and area. Elevated methods have panels mounted a number of metres above floor to permit crops to develop beneath. Row-based methods have panels positioned between crop rows to minimise shading. Vertical methods use upright panels that can seize daylight from either side. Greenhouse-integrated methods function photo voltaic panels on roofs or partitions to take care of a managed rising atmosphere. The suitability of a design additionally depends upon the native local weather, irrigation practices, and the crop. So systematic and region-specific planning is important to optimise each agricultural and power yields.
Careful crop choice can also be key to the success of agriPV methods as a result of the quantity of daylight obtainable modifications primarily based on how photo voltaic panels are positioned. Shade-tolerant crops typically carry out nicely in partially shaded areas underneath photo voltaic panels whereas crops that want extra daylight develop higher within the areas between rows of panels.
Crop choice additionally varies throughout India’s various agro-climatic areas. For occasion, appropriate crop choices embody tomato, onion, garlic, turmeric, ginger, leafy greens, and tulsi in Madhya Pradesh, and ragi, jowar, grapes, tomato, potato, chillies, banana, and brinjal in Karnataka and Maharashtra — all of which can carry out nicely in agriPV methods.
Beyond technical issues resembling crop choice, the scalability of agriPV hinges on creating viable enterprise fashions. Farmers can personal and function agriPV methods, use a portion of the electrical energy generated, and promote the excess. With the assistance of Farmer Producer Organisations or cooperatives, a number of farmers can additionally combination land and collectively develop tasks, enhancing their bargaining energy and entry to finance.
Private builders might additionally lease farmland and share revenues or pay fastened rents to farmers. Alternatively, State governments or public companies might develop agriPV methods to assist native power wants.
Why agriPV issues for India
India’s bold power transition objectives — to have 300 GW of put in photo voltaic capability by 2030 and obtain net-zero emissions by 2070 — put land at a premium. Utility-scale photo voltaic tasks require massive tracts of land whereas agriculture is already underneath stress from competing land makes use of.
AgriPV can ameliorate this battle. With greater than half of India’s land underneath agriculture, dual-use deployment is efficacious. And in an financial system that relies upon closely on agriculture, the know-how’s enchantment lies in each farmers diversifying their incomes and producing clear power. Farmers can earn from promoting electrical energy, leasing land or sharing revenues whereas persevering with to domesticate.
AgriPV additionally delivers environmental co-benefits. In sure agro-climatic situations, partial shading can cut back evapotranspiration — the mixed lack of water to the ambiance via evaporation and plant transpiration — and soils retain extra moisture, thus enhancing the general water-use effectivity. Solar panels can additionally defend crops towards excessive warmth, rainfall, and hail. By decreasing the farm’s want for diesel, such methods can additionally assist rural entrepreneurship and native financial development.
AgriPV can energy ancillary providers as nicely, together with chilly storage, meals processing items, and chaff cutters, strengthening rural worth chains. However, this requires clear governance frameworks, tariffs, and accessible finance.
Status in India
There are round 50 pilot agriPV installations nationwide, with varied panel-crop mixtures and financial feasibility underneath analysis. Recent coverage discussions have additionally more and more referenced agriPV however large-scale replication has but to begin. Both policymakers and consultants want extra empirical proof throughout agro-climatic zones to say which configurations, crop matrices, and monetary frameworks are most fitted.
The know-how’s large-scale adoption in India does face financial, regulatory, and institutional boundaries. Elevated constructions and specialised mounting methods considerably enhance capital prices, nicely above these of standard photo voltaic methods. A crop’s responses to shading can range and poorly designed methods could even cut back agricultural yields.
System possession between farmers and builders might additionally elevate doubts, significantly if long-term land rights and revenue-sharing preparations will not be absolutely clear. Land classification, grid connectivity, and tariffs hinge on regulatory readability and the shortage of design benchmarks provides to investor uncertainty.
Policy pathways
With the best coverage assist, agriPV has the potential to scale past pilot tasks. Recent consultations on PM-KUSUM 2.0 have indicated that the federal government could embody agriPV in a proposed ‘National Agri-photovoltaics Mission’ as a devoted 10-GW element, with viability hole funding to offset the capital prices. Such measures might remarkably enhance the bankability of agriPV tasks and cut back the monetary threat.
Clearly recognising dual-use configurations inside PM-KUSUM 2.0 might assist align agriPV with farmer-centric solarisation. States can reinforce this by figuring out appropriate clusters, streamlining approvals, and integrating agriPV into farmer coaching and advisory programmes.
As India quickly advances in its power transition, agriPV gives a pathway for renewable power to enrich agricultural productiveness. Its inclusion underneath PM-KUSUM 2.0 might transfer it from scattered pilots to a extra structured, scalable mannequin, strengthening farmer incomes and easing land pressures.
Shantanu Roy is the Sector Coordinator of the Renewables and Energy Conservation sector on the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), a research-based suppose tank.
Published – March 23, 2026 07:15 am IST
