- The first solar project under the Mukhyamantri Saur Krishi Vahini Yojana 2.0 (MSKVY 2.0) in Maharashtra, India, has begun power generation.
- In June 2022, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis declared ‘Mission 2025’ to solarise at least 30 per cent of agriculture feeders by December 2025.
The first solar project under the Mukhyamantri Saur Krishi Vahini Yojana 2.0 (MSKVY 2.0) in Maharashtra, India has begun generating power, providing daytime electricity to farmers for irrigation purposes. The 3 MW capacity project, located in Dhondalgaon village, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, was activated this week.
Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) managing director Lokesh Chandra stated, “This is the world’s largest distributed renewable energy project, which aims to develop solar energy projects with a total capacity of 9,200 MW by December 2025 — with the Dhondalgaon project marking the beginning of this endeavour.”
The Dhondalgaon solar energy project, developed on 13 acres of public land near an MSEDCL electricity substation, is connected to a 33 KV substation in Dhondalgaon. “It will provide daytime power supply to 1,753 agriculture pumps connected to 5 electric feeders, benefiting farmers in Dhondalgaon, Nalegaon, Amanatpurwadi, and Sanjapurwadi,” Chandra said.
In June 2022, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis declared ‘Mission 2025’ to solarise at least 30 per cent of agriculture feeders by December 2025, accelerating the implementation of MSKVY 2.0.
Recently, the state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, approved the expansion of MSKVY 2.0 to increase its capacity by 7,000 MW, taking the total to 16,000 MW. Chandra added that the aim is to provide daytime power to 100 per cent of agriculture pumps.
In Maharashtra, there has been a long-standing demand to provide only daytime power. MSKVY 2.0 was launched to address this issue by generating electricity using solar energy to run agriculture pumps.
The project involves developing decentralised solar power projects at multiple locations across the state. In addition to solving the problem of a daytime power supply for farmers, this project will also help reduce the burden of cross-subsidy on the industry, as electricity will be available at a cheaper rate.
The advantage of the project is that one does not have to depend on long transmission lines to wheel solar energy from far-off places or another state to the agriculture fields in Maharashtra. “The solar will be generated close to the farmlands and supplied through feeders which again are close to the agricultural land, drastically cutting transmission and distribution losses. It will also ensure the reliability of power supply,” said a senior energy department official.