Rajasthan govt leases barren land to power solar energy plants

The Rajasthan government has launched a scheme to help farmers to set up solar energy plants on their unusable or barren land.

Under the scheme, called the Saur Krishi Aajeevika Yojana (SKAY), farmers can give their barren land on lease to set up solar-energy plants, which would help them elevate their living standards, a senior state government official told Business Standard.

An online portal has been set up and on it farmers/landowners can register their land to give on lease.

“The land developer can see the land details put on the portal by farmers and can set up a solar energy plant in accordance with the rules. 

The land developer, with the SKAY, can easily get a central subsidy under the PM Kusum Yojana (30 per cent of the cost). The state government will arrange a tripartite agreement between the landowner/farmer, developer and the discom/power company concerned so that it is ensured that risk protection is provided to the land owner/farmer,” he added.

This will increase solar-energy generation and the state government will be able to achieve the target of making Rajasthan a green-energy state.

With reduction in dependence on traditional energy, pollution will reduce.

The state government prepared the SKAY to promote decentralised solar-energy plants being developed at agriculture load 

centres, especially in rural areas under PM-Kusum component C (Feeder Level Solarlisation). Rajasthan discoms have developed an online portal.

According to a state government energy department official, solar generation in Rajasthan is 14,454.70 Mw, including 11,821.87 Mw ground-mounted solar capacity, 814.02 Mw rooftop, 438.41 Mw off grid, and 1,380.40 Mw solar hybrid.

Rajasthan’s solar generation potential has been assessed at 142 Gw. The state government plans to harness this potential systematically and has set a target of 30 Gw by 2024-25.