I.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Long after the dire health and economic crises associated with the current Covid-19 Pandemic have been overcome, the State of Rajasthan will continue to battle enduring challenges of poverty, poor electricity supply, and water scarcity. These challenges are especially strong for rural populations, and may intensify with global climate change. Well-intentioned initiatives have sought to confront these challenges, most recently the Government of India’s Kisan Urja Suraksha evem Utthan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM) scheme. Launched 8 March 2019, KUSUM is an ambitious attempt to encourage the solarization of agricultural electricity supply, so as to improve electricity supply to farmers, increase farmer income, relieve state and Discom financial burdens, and better manage groundwater resources. This report provides an independent assessment of the relative costs and benefits of both solar feeders and grid-connected solar pumps, two agricultural solarization models that KUSUM offers to communities connected to the power grid. Specifically, this report assesses the ability of each model to achieve the desired goals of stakeholders in Rajasthan, offering recommendations to increase benefits, reduce implementation barriers, and mitigate unintended consequences. This report concludes that although KUSUM has great potential to deliver these benefits, particularly through the use of solar feeders, neither model neither model appears likely to be able to fully deliver on all of these benefits. Critically, neither is sure to improve Rajasthan’s groundwater depletion problem. Despite these caveats, Rajasthan is well-positioned to meet solarization targets and is generally encouraged to embrace the KUSUM scheme, making changes where needed to ensure financial viability, prioritize equity, and minimize harmful side-effects on the social and physical environment.
CONTEXT Through solarization of groundwater pumps and substation-level feeder power plants, KUSUM aims to give farmers ample, reliable electricity for irrigation. The scheme has two grid-connected models: •
KUSUM A: Installation of 10,000 MW of decentralized, ground-mounted, grid-connected solar power plants with individual plant sizes up to 2 MW.
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KUSUM C: Solarization of 15 lakh grid-connected agriculture pumps, originally intended to connect each individual pump to its own power supply. Recently, KUSUM guidelines have been changed to allow this target to be met by connecting multiple pumps to a single power supply, i.e., by creating solar feeders.
KUSUM has many potential virtues. Solar electricity can be generated at low cost and supplying farmers through exclusive channels enables them to more efficiently irrigate their crops, boosting their 6
