Farmers in UP City to get 160 Solar Pumps Under KUSUM Scheme

The Pilibhit agriculture department in UP is set to provide 160 solar pumps to farmers on subsidy, under the PM KUSUM scheme of the Union government.

The Pilibhit agriculture department in Uttar Pradesh (UP) is set to provide 160 solar pumps to farmers on subsidy, under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Utthan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM) scheme of the Union government. Under the scheme, the subsidy for the solar pump units has been fixed at 40 percent of the selling price of the solar units.

Giving this information to TOI, deputy director of agriculture Yashraj Singh said of the 160 units, 130 surface pumps would be of 2-horsepower capacity, while 30 submersible pumps would be of 3HP capacity.

The government had given the contract to supply solar pumps to two companies, based in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh respectively. For maintaining complete transparency, an online registration system for willing farmers had been invoked, he said.

The solar pumps would be distributed on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. Farmers have to pay the price of pumps via a demand draft, drawn in favour of the supplier after deducting the applicable amount of subsidy, Singh said.

“The solar pumping units will protect farmers from the hurdle of power supply failure and also help reduce pollution — noise in case of electrically-operated pumping units, air in case of diesel pumping sets. The solar pumps will have zero operational costs,” Singh added.

In March, the Agency for New and Renewable Energy Research and Technology (ANERT) had issued a tender for the rate contract for the solarisation of grid-connected agricultural pumps of cumulative capacity of 300 HP under the PM-KUSUM scheme in the state of Kerala.

The scope of work for the selected bidders includes the supply, installation and commissioning of SPV ground-mounted / rooftop power plants with grid connectivity for solarising the following capacity of agricultural pumps with power plants of capacity 1 kW, 2 kW, 3 kW, 4 kW, 5 kW, 6 kW, 7 kW, 8 kW, and 10 kW. The proposed location for the installation of the SPV modules can be on the rooftop of existing buildings /ground mounted among the 14 districts in the state of Kerala.