Overview
- The government released draft agrivoltaics measures and said it will publish a dedicated policy for public and state consultation following discussions at the Agrivoltaics World Conference on Wednesday, Oct. 21.
- Officials set an initial national deployment target of about 5 gigawatts of agrivoltaic capacity to be added over roughly three years and said agrisolar will be supported under PM‑KUSUM 2.0 with a possible dedicated component.
- Agrivoltaic systems typically cost about 25–30% more than conventional ground‑mounted solar, raising per‑unit generation costs (for example roughly Rs 3.20/unit versus Rs 2.60/unit), and the government is exploring roughly 25% cost‑neutralization subsidies to match tariffs.
- Ministers stressed farmer protections and inclusion measures such as Farmer Producer Organisation participation, training for local youth and women, repair and dispute mechanisms, and rights to restore land to agriculture if projects end.
- A TERI‑cited assessment identifies about 47.5 million hectares (≈30% of cropland) as technically suitable for agrivoltaics and officials noted that international partners, notably Germany, have offered joint research and pilots to test technical and crop models on Indian farms.