India’s Agrivoltaic Capacity Expected To Cross 5 GW In 3-4 Years

The Union New and Renewable Energy Ministry is working with the Finance Ministry on a proposal to support agrivoltaics and incentivise states to adopt different models, Secretary Santosh Kumar Sarangi said.

The proposed central sector scheme comes as India’s agrivoltaic capacity could rise to more than 5-gigawatts over the next three to four years, provided states show enthusiasm and can notify feed-in tariffs.

Capacity linked to state action

Mr. Sarangi told reporters at a briefing ahead of the seventh Agrivoltaics World Conference that estimating the future capacity was difficult.

“It is difficult to estimate but it should be upwards of 5-gigawatts in the next 3-4 years,” he said.

He made clear that the estimate would depend on the response of state governments and their ability to notify feed-in tariffs quickly.

“It depends on state’s enthusiasm, ability to quickly notify a feed-in tariff,” Mr. Sarangi said.

Agrivoltaics entails using agricultural land for its primary purpose while also generating solar photovoltaic energy.

According to Mr. Sarangi, feed-in tariffs would give farmer-producers organisations and cooperatives greater certainty when deciding whether to invest.

“Once they (the states) are ready with feed-in tariffs. It would provide certainty to the farmer-producers organisations and cooperatives to make the investment decision,” he explained.

He added that if states acted quickly, reaching more than 5-gigawatts should not be an issue.

“If states act quickly then 5-gigawatts plus should not be an issue,” he said.

States have begun pilot projects

The ministry has observed enthusiasm from state governments, Mr. Sarangi said.

Several states, including Odisha, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, have conducted their own individual pilot projects for agrivoltaics.

The pilot projects indicate that state-level initiatives are already part of the sector’s development, while the proposed central support is intended to help states pursue different agrivoltaic models.

“We are planning for a central sector scheme which will support it (agrivoltaics),” Mr. Sarangi said.

The ministry is considering making the scheme part of an existing programme when those schemes are revised.

“Probably we will make it a part of one of our existing schemes as and when those schemes are getting revised,” he said.

The ministry and the Finance Ministry are working on how the support could be structured and how states could be incentivised to develop different kinds of agrivoltaic models.

The issue will be discussed in the context of the seventh Agrivoltaics World Conference, which is scheduled to be held in New Delhi October 21-23.

Source: The Hindu