Shrinking subsidy dissuades farmers from green energy

The farmers in Haryana have given a lukewarm response to the subsidised installation of SPV (Solar Photo-Voltaic) pumpsets, where the subsidy is provided by the Ministry of Renewable Energy under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission started in 2010-11.

The scheme offers a subsidy of Rs 3.5 lakh on the total cost of Rs 8.5 lakh by Government of India on the installation of 5 kilowatt of SPV pumpset. An additional subsidy of Rs 50,000 is offered by the HAREDA (Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency) to the beneficiary farmer.

According to Gurmail Singh, a farmer near Ambala, this scheme was first launched during the period of 1999 to 2000 in the state and the total cost of putting 1.8 kilowatt pumpset was Rs 3.5 lakh (half of the revised scheme). After a subsidy of Rs 2.43 lakh from the government and Rs 50,000 from HAREDA, the financial burden on the farmer which stood at Rs 60,000 has now skyrocketed to Rs 4.5 lakh.

The farmer was earlier provided a subsidy of Rs 125 per watt for maximum of 1,800-watt, 2-hp capacity pump set. The subsidy has been slashed to Rs 70 per watt up to 5 hp submersible pumpsets and this has increased the burden on the farmers.

Lubhaya Ram of Kaithal contended that to avail the same load (5 kw) from the power utilities he has to pay a one time fee of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 35 per month per horsepower without any cap on the power drawn. This comes out to be around Rs 200 per month. So there is no economic sense in investing Rs 4 lakh more on SPV pumps.

A 5 Kw pump can irrigate about 2 to 3 acres of land.

The officials in HAREDA confirmed that the scheme failed to gather the steam this time. “We put up 393 pump sets in three years when the scheme was launched in 1999 and the security deposited for 400 connections had to be refunded as it ended in 2000.”

The tepid response among the farmers for renewed scheme is a result of the increase in the requisite investment. “The cost has been revised due to an increase in the capacity of pump set from 1.8 Kw to 5 Kw. The dwindling water table is responsible for the need of a higher capacity pumpset. The 1.8 Kw pumpset can lift water from up to 30 feet . But the consistent drop in the water table over the years in the state calls for more powerful pump sets (that could lift water from up to 100 feet), the amount of investment has thus increased.