MNRE Secretary Santosh Kumar Sarangi said PM-KUSUM 2.0 aims to strengthen food and energy security sustainably. The scheme will focus on agri-photovoltaics and universal solar pump controllers to help farmers. Sarangi said, "PM-KUSUM 2.0 aims at a more sustainable blend of food security and energy security." It will improve previous solar initiatives.
Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Secretary of the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy
Emphasising that PM-KUSUM (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan) helped the farm sector in reducing irrigation costs and generating additional income, Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Secretary of the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, said that PM-KUSUM 2.0 will integrate learnings from the first scheme, moving towards a more sustainable blend of food and energy security. Excerpts
What is the thought behind PM-KUSUM 2.0?
PM-KUSUM 2.0 aims at a more sustainable blend of food security and energy security. For instance, in Component A, we had kept a provision for a ground-mounted solar. But for that, you don't have availability of agricultural land, as it was meant for farmers to use. Barren agricultural land was not available much in other parts of the country except in Rajasthan. So component A could take off only in Rajasthan. In other parts, it didn't take off. We realised farmers won't abandon agriculture to set up solar farms. So the future will be agri-photovoltaics, without compromising farm production. So, that will have to be a focus in Kusum 2.0.
Then Component B (solar pumps) is very good, but we realised that farmers use it only 120-150 days a year. The rest of the time, the panels are still generating electricity. We recommend a universal solar pump controller (USPC), which can use surplus electricity for other purposes, such as a thresher or harvester. Integrating USPC into Component B should also be a focus area.
We also found that Individual Pump Solarisation (IPS) in Component C has limited demand. This is largely because states have been providing power at subsidised or free rates. There is no saving compared to Component B. But feeder-level solarisation makes sense, and it should continue with BESS for effective local distribution management. It will be voluntary and not mandatory.
What is the status of the Wind Energy Taskforce?
The task force is working with state governments to address registration requirements for RE players. How to simplify the registration process by making it online and not charging a very high fee. Similarly, notifying the compensation prices for RoW. On these issues, the task force is working with the respective states. Its job is to work with states and sort out lingering issues.
How is the Ministry moving ahead on Offshore wind energy?
The tender for offshore wind energy should hopefully come in the next two months. The capacity is likely to be less than 1 gigawatt, given the high establishment cost. Offshore wind energy potential is very good, with a capacity utilisation factor of nearly 50 per cent. However, this hasn't been tried in the country, so developers don't have the expertise. So we have to get developers from outside. This will be happening for the first time, so the cost is going to be high.
What assistance can we expect from the government for Offshore wind energy?
The assistance will be in the form of voluntary gap funding (VGF). The gThe government will build the transmission and distribution infrastructure. Then it will tie up with the Tamil Nadu government to purchase the power at a predetermined rate. Then it will create port infrastructure to allow large-sized equipment to come in. For that, Tuticorin port (VO Chidambaranar Port) has been identified as the nodal port, and they are now investing to make it capable of handling such large-sized equipment.
India's solar PV module manufacturing capacity has exceeded demand. What are your thoughts?
In a country, if total electricity generation is X, then it is up to the CEA, the central nodal officer, to advise the government on the electricity roadmap and decide the energy mix. Given that our total peak requirement is only about 270 GW today, you can't plan indefinite expansion. It has to be within the resource adequacy framework. Within the resource adequacy framework, adding 50-60 GW a year is sufficient. Accordingly, our manufacturing investors must make a conscious call on their investment decisions. We expect them to do their due diligence and make a decision.