Gautam Solar On Course To Install 2500 Solar Pumps in Haryana

New Delhi-based solar power equipment manufacturer Gautam Solar has installed 1,500 solar pumps at various locations in Haryana under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme, as per the company’s press release.

While the company had installed 1,000 solar pumps in Haryana by  May 2021, by August, the company won an order of about 1,500 more solar pumps from Haryana farmers.

“So far, we’ve worked with the farmers of Haryana and Rajasthan…We look forward to working with farmers in the other regions of the country as well,” said Gautam Mohanka, managing director, Gautam Solar.

Solar-powered irrigation systems provide a clean alternative to fossil fuels and enable the development of low-carbon irrigated agriculture. In areas with no or unreliable access to energy, they contribute to rural electrification and reduce energy costs for irrigation.

The government has set a target of installing 22,000 standalone solar pumps in Haryana within the first year of the PM-KUSUM scheme. Under this scheme, the farmers have to bear only 40% of the pump’s cost, while the central and state governments subsidise the remaining 60% for solar pumps.

However, the Haryana government has provided additional top-up on the subsidies, which has reduced the farmer’s share to less than 25%.

Being the only solar manufacturer in the country that produces all the solar pump components in-house, Gautam Solar can maintain a steady supply as per the demand and serves as a single point of service for the farmers so they do not have to run from vendor to vendor.

“At Gautam Solar, we’ve always emphasized the importance of spreading eco-consciousness and we believe that for substantial change to occur, we need to start at the grassroots i.e. Our farmers. While farmers have been using diesel-based generators for quite some time, they’ve been doing so because of the lack of options. In practice, diesel-based generators not only cause pollution but are also costly in the long term. This problem will only be compounded in the future as fossil fuel sources are becoming scarce. Pradhan Mantri Kusum Yojana is a wonderful scheme that will catalyze the adoption of solar energy as the primary power source in the rural areas of the country,” Mohanka had stated in May.