Truth that Matters. Stories that Impact

Truth that Matters. Stories that Impact

Politics

Agrivoltaics Pilot in Rajasthan Demonstrates Dual Land Use for Crops and Solar Power

A 600 kW agrophotovoltaics project on a three-acre farm in Kundanpura, Rajasthan, has demonstrated how land can simultaneously generate solar power and support food cultivation, addressing the common trade-off between energy transition and agricultural production.

What Happened

In Kundanpura village, located in Rajasthan’s Bassi block, 60-year-old farmer Kojadmal Jat collaborated with researchers from the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) to implement a farmer-owned agrivoltaics (APV) system. Unlike conventional ground-mounted solar installations that leave land barren underneath, the pilot uses 11-foot-high elevated panels with enough clearance for tractors to plough and cultivate crops. Under these panels, Jat successfully cultivated off-season maize during May, taking advantage of the cooler microclimate created by the panel shade, which lowers heat stress and reduces water evaporation.

The installation produces 600 kW of power, feeding electricity into the local grid to support daytime irrigation for roughly 250 surrounding farms. The power is sold to Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. (JVVNL) at ₹3.14 per unit under a 25-year arrangement. To prevent a complete loss of generation revenue during conversion, researchers retrofitted the existing plant in phases, working one inverter at a time.

Key Highlights

  • Dual production: The 3-acre installation functions as Rajasthan’s first farmer-owned APV site, generating 600 kW of power while allowing maize cultivation beneath the panels.
  • Income transformation: Prior to adopting solar energy, Jat earned approximately ₹40,000 annually from farming. With solar generation, his annual earnings rose to about ₹3 lakh.
  • Capital costs: Elevated mounting structures needed for farming clearance added roughly ₹35.3 lakh compared to conventional solar mounting, an amount funded through Kotak Mahindra’s CSR arm, Kotak Karma.
  • Viability Gap Funding impact: ICRIER financial modelling indicated that without Viability Gap Funding (VGF), recovering investment costs would take nearly 12 years. With VGF, payback dropped to just over six years, while annual returns rose from ₹3.76 lakh to ₹4.48 lakh per acre.
  • Broad interest: A survey conducted by German development agency GIZ India among 1,700 farmers revealed that 54 percent expressed interest in adopting agriPV systems.

Why This Matters

With India ranking 102nd out of 123 countries on the 2025 Global Hunger Index, replacing productive agricultural acreage with large ground-mounted solar parks presents a risk to food security. Agrivoltaics provides a path to generate clean energy while preserving agricultural land and offering farmers diversified, predictable income streams resilient against harvest fluctuations.

However, substantial barriers prevent wider replication. Agricultural economist Ashok Gulati noted that bank interest rates hovering around 10.5%, combined with DISCOM reluctance to enter long-term power-purchase agreements and high capital costs, put agrivoltaics out of reach for most smallholders. Additional hurdles include costly metering, high stamp duties, and a lack of dedicated procurement categories or credit guarantees from institutions like NABARD.

What to Watch Next

Experts and stakeholders have highlighted several administrative and regulatory measures needed to scale the model:

  • National Solar Energy Federation of India CEO Subrahmanyam Pulipaka pointed out the need to establish formal national standards and technical definitions for agrivoltaics, similar to frameworks in Germany, France, and Japan.
  • ICRIER’s report recommended creating a centralised agrivoltaics monitoring and grievance redressal portal under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
  • Energy specialists have suggested implementing a dedicated Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) for agrivoltaics to prevent it from competing unfairly against lower-cost conventional solar tenders.
  • Rajasthan plans to deploy large-scale battery energy storage systems to help rural grids absorb decentralised daytime generation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is agrophotovoltaics (agrivoltaics)?

Agrophotovoltaics (APV or agriPV) is the practice of combining agricultural cultivation and solar photovoltaic electricity generation on the same piece of land by elevating solar panels to allow crops to grow beneath them.

How does growing crops under solar panels work in hot climates?

Elevated solar panels create partial shade that lowers ground-level heat stress, cuts water evaporation, and establishes a stable microclimate, making it viable to cultivate crops during harsh summer conditions with less irrigation.

What are the primary challenges facing agrivoltaics adoption in India?

Key challenges include high upfront capital costs for elevated structures, commercial lending rates above 10%, procedural delays in power-purchase agreements, expensive metering equipment, and a lack of dedicated credit guarantee mechanisms or specific procurement frameworks.

Source: Reporting based on field findings and stakeholder interviews published by The Hindu.