Maharashtra: Power Firm for Farmers, Solar Energy

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Dec 5 (PTI) Maharashtra will be the first state in the country to have a power firm dedicated to farmers with the aim of providing them solar energy to produce crops without pollution, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Friday.
The state will generate 16000 MW of solar energy for farmers, Fadnavis said here at a function in which an agreement between Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank was signed for a USD one billion loan.
"Maharashtra will be the first state where a separate electricity company will be formed for farmers. It will give solar energy to every farmer in the state till the end of next year. The state will generate 16000 MW of solar energy for farmers (till Dec 2026). From next year onwards, the farmers in the state will produce their crops without any pollution," he said.
Over the next 25 years, farmers with solar pumps will not have to pay a single rupee in bills, the CM said.
The state faced severe drought two times during his first tenure between 2014 and 2019, severely troubling farmers, but the experiment of separating the feeders for farmers and taking them to solar succeeded in Ralegan Siddhi, he pointed out.
"However, the scheme to give one lakh pumps to farmers got stalled as we went out of power. Now, out of 9 lakh pumps installed under Kusum Scheme, 7 lakh are in Maharashtra alone, allowing farmers to grow three crops a year. Before 2013, a farmer used to get the pump almost four years after the application. Only around 15k pumps were installed in a year at that time," he said.
Such backlogs have not only been cleared, but the installation of 45,911 pumps in a single month in the state has made its way into the record books, the CM said.
An official said MSEDCL installed these number of pumps between October 27 and November 25, which has been recorded in the Guinness World Records. The feat is a huge jump from the 19000 pumps installed normally in a month, he added.
Talking about savings, the CM said the rate of purchase of thermal generated power was Rs 8 per unit, while solar will be available at Rs 3 per unit. which means the subsidy of Rs 6.5 per unit connected to farmers' electricity consumption has reduced now.
"As a result the MSEDCL has decided to reduce the rates of industrial and household electricity by 3 per cent per year. Installation of the solar pumps is not just a world record, but we have set a new dimension in the vertical of energy for the country," said Fadnavis, who also interacted online with the beneficiaries of the agricultural solar pumps across the state.