PM KUSUM C: Where the sun keeps the water pumps running
PM-KUSUM C Project in Chickballapur District. It is an initiative that solarizes existing grid-connected agricultural water pumps to provide farmers with reliable daily electricity and zero blackouts. | Photo credit: Special arrangement
Narayan Swamy, a farmer from Nallimaradahalli in Chickballapur district, has leased out his 40-acre agricultural land to a private firm to set up solar panels under the PM-KUSUM C project. The energy generated from the project powers the farm’s water pumps instead of relying on Bescom for power that gets interrupted due to congestion and other infrastructure issues.
The PM-KUSUM C project is a ‘Government of India’ initiative to solar power existing grid-connected agricultural water pumps to provide farmers with reliable daily electricity and zero power outages.
Once a mango orchard
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Narayan Swamy said, “I used to grow mangoes along with other fruits on the farm. When the yield started decreasing, I felt that leasing was the next best step instead of selling to a real estate firm. Even if I get a rent of ₹ 60,000 per acre for the next 25 years, the thousands of energy generated are benefited.”
According to Bescom officials, the Nallimaradahalli substation supplies electricity to 3,000 water pumps of farmers in the surrounding 27 villages.
The Hindu visited some of the prime project sites of PM-KUSUM C in Bengaluru Rural and Chickballapur. While the 66kV Nallimaradahalli substation at Chickballapur has the capacity to generate 13MW of power, another project, Kundana, generates 3MW covering 37 villages and powers the pumping sets of 797 farmers. Similarly, the Devanahalli project generates 13 MW covering 68 villages feeding 2,811 pump sets.
N. Shivashankar, MD, Bescom, said PM-KUSUM C enables farmers to use electricity generated from solar energy during the day without power interruptions or voltage problems to supply their fields with borehole water. Taking power from distant hydro or thermal power plants overloads transmission lines, resulting in frequent blackouts.
Mr Shivashankar said three and a half acres of land is required to install solar panels to produce one MW. “The minimum price fixed for one acre is ₹25,000, but if it is private land, then farmers can negotiate according to the land rates in a particular region, proximity to substations and other factors,” he said.
Giving the totals, he said, “Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has sanctioned 2.62 lakh agricultural pump sets for solarization in Bescom, followed by another sanction for 60,000 agricultural pump sets. Of these, Bescom has already entered into Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) for projects with a total capacity of 1,300 MW459.01 agricultural sets.”
He said that the project was carried out in many government-owned lands, urging the gram panchayats to come forward to identify such government lands in the villages for the project.
Similarly, the Kundan and Devanahalli projects are built on Hooganawadi Lake, which comes under the Minor Irrigation Department. A private player, Mega Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd. (MIEL), pays the prescribed rental amount to the Ministry of Irrigation.
Mr. Shivashankar explained that the solar panels are installed at higher levels so that when it rains and the lake overflows, the water does not damage the panels.
Considered forest land
In order to implement more PM-KUSUM C projects, Mr. Shivashankar also highlighted that Bescom is likely to use some of the deemed forest land in Chickballapur district for the benefit of farmers.
He said about 20,000 hectares have been earmarked as forest in Chickballapur district. And after the survey is completed in the next three months, the district administration is likely to take back 11,000 to 12,000 hectares of this supposed forest land. Of this, about 10,000 acres are lake or reservoir bottoms. The remaining area will be used for various projects in the state for revenue generation and the PM-KUSUM C project will be one of them.
Published – 02 Sep 2026 22:15 IST