Bhopal, March 25 (IANS). The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Madhya Pradesh government on Wednesday allotted ‘Power Purchase Agreements’ (PPAs) to developers selected under the ‘Surya Mitra Krishi Feeder Scheme’.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav distributed power purchase agreements to the selected developers at an event organized at his residence. On this occasion, State Energy Minister Pradyuman Singh Tomar and senior officials of the department were also present.
The scheme is expected to prove to be an important step towards empowering the agriculture sector with solar energy, ensuring daytime power supply to farmers and promoting energy self-reliance in the state.
Chief Minister Yadav described this initiative as a step towards becoming a ‘Green Power State’ and said that it has been decided to connect about 8 lakh electric pumps with solar energy.
He said, “Power purchase agreements were distributed under the ‘Surya Mitra Krishi Feeder’ scheme, through which about 8 lakh electric pumps can be connected to solar energy. A total of 4,022 MW capacity solar projects have been allotted under this scheme. With this, electricity will be available at an affordable rate of just Rs 2.40 to Rs 2.85 per unit.”
Manu Srivastava, Additional Chief Secretary, Energy Department, said that under the ‘Surya Mitra Krishi Feeder Scheme’, solar power plants are being installed on electricity feeders. These are intended to supply solar energy to agricultural pumps connected to individual agricultural feeders as well as to grid-connected mixed feeders.
He said that through ‘Surya Mitra Krishi Feeder Scheme’ the entire feeder network and power sub-stations will be connected to solar energy, thereby providing electricity to consumers at affordable rates.
He further informed that investors who have fulfilled the required eligibility criteria have been selected and power purchase agreements have been signed with them for a period of 25 years.
‘Surya Mitra Krishi Feeder Yojana’ is a part of Pradhan Mantri Kusum Yojana. Under this scheme, solar power plants are installed on feeders to supply solar energy to grid connected agricultural pumps.
Madhya Pradesh is a leading state in the agriculture sector, with around 8,000 separate agriculture feeders and around 35 lakh agriculture pumps for irrigation.
–IANS
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