JamMU, December 26: Under the direction of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, the Administrative Council (AC) approved the solarization of 4000 individual grid-connected agriculture pumps that are currently in use as part of Component-C of the Pradhan Mantri Kissan Urja Suraksha Evam Uthaan Mahaabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) Scheme. The grid-connected solar power plant’s capacity ranges from 1 kW to 15 kW.
Attending the meeting were Mandeep Kumar Bhandari, the Lieutenant Governor’s principal secretary; Atal Dulloo, the chief secretary; and Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, the advisor.
Farmers will be able to cover their irrigation demands using the solar electricity produced under this system, and any extra solar power will be supplied to distribution firms (DISCOMs). In exchange, the DISCOMS are required to compensate the farmers for the export of unused electricity to the grid at the rate set by JKSERC.
In addition to reducing pollution, solarizing agricultural pumps will give farmers a dependable source of irrigation through solar-powered pumps and stop revenue losses for DISCOMs due to powering electrical irrigation pumps at subsidized energy tariffs of Rs 0.66 per unit compared to an average power purchase tariff of Rs 3.50 per unit.
