Rajasthan is emerging as a major hub of decentralised solar energy

Along with making strides in solar energy, Rajasthan is also emerging as the country’s major hub in the field of decentralised solar energy, Arti Dogra, chairman, DISCOMs, said.

 

“In the past year, the state has achieved progress in this field. This has been possible due to the effective implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (Kusum Yojana) at the ground level,” she said.

 

As a result, 684 decentralised solar power plants, with a total capacity of 1305 Mw, have been established in the state. A senior official of the energy department said that of these, 592 plants, with a capacity of 1190 Mw, have been developed within a year.

 

Dogra highlighted that these plants are not being set up by industrialists or big commercial groups. These plants are being set up by farmers, whom she calls “solarpreneurs”. These farmers, often in partnership with developers, are utilising barren land near the fields to generate solar power, thus tapping into rural entrepreneurship. 

 

Dogra said instead of big solar plants, the Kusum scheme focuses on smaller grid-connected plants set up within a 5-kilometre radius of a grid substation. This localised approach helps in minimising transmission losses.

 

Under the Kusum scheme, she said, component-A allows for grid- connected solar plants of up to 2 Mw, while component C allows for installations of up to 5 Mw. In component- C, the central government provides financial assistance of ₹1.05 crore per Mw, covering 30 per cent of the cost.

 

Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma has committed to provide daytime electricity to farmers in the state by 2027. The Kusum scheme is playing a key role in achieving that goal. Nearly 1 lakh farmers already are receiving electricity from these plants.

 

The main reason for the increasing debt of Rajasthan discoms, which is suffering from a loss of about ₹ 90,000 crore, is due to expensive electricity purchase and high-cost thermal generation. In such a situation, getting cheap electricity from these plants at the rate of only ₹ 2.5 to ₹ 3 per unit is a matter of great relief for the discoms. Recognising its impact, the Rajasthan government has included Kusum as a flagship scheme.