India’s agrivoltaic capacity could scale to more than 5-gigawatts in the next three to four years subject to enthusiasm from states and their ability to notify feed-in tariffs, Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Secretary at the Union Ministry for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) told reporters at a briefing ahead of the seventh Agrivoltaics World Conference to be held in New Delhi October 21-23.  

“It is difficult to estimate but it should be upwards of 5-gigawatts in the next 3-4 years. It depends on state’s enthusiasm, ability to quickly notify a feed-in tariff,” said Mr. Sarangi.  

Agrivoltaics entails the use of agricultural land for its primary purpose and solar photovoltaic energy generation.  

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

Mr. Sarangi added that the ministry had observed enthusiasm from state governments as well.  

He also told reporters that several states, including Odisha, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have conducted their own individual pilot projects for agrivoltaics.  

Further, the Union New and Renewable Energy Ministry was also planning a scheme to support the states.   

“We are planning for a central sector scheme which will support it (agrivoltaics). Probably we will make it a part of one of our existing schemes as and when those schemes are getting revised,” he said, “On that we are working with the Finance Ministry on how this could be done and how states could be incentivised to do different kinds of agrivoltaic models.” 

The second phase of the Centre’s flagship PM-KUSUM scheme is likely to be announced shortly, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi said on the sidelines of the curtain raiser for the seventh Agrivoltaics World Conference 2026.

“The process is on for PM-KUSUM 2.0, that is, Phase-II, and I am quite confident very shortly the honourable Prime Minister [will make the announcement],” Joshi told reporters.

Addressing the conference, the minister said the next phase of the scheme would include a dedicated component for agrivoltaics, which combines agricultural activity with solar power generation.

Joshi said the government’s broader focus would remain on supporting small and marginal farmers, farmer producer organisations (FPOs), cooperatives and panchayats as the country expands the use of renewable energy in agriculture.

He also called on industry stakeholders and researchers to deepen studies on agrivoltaic applications, particularly their suitability across different crops, climatic conditions and geographical regions.

“We need much more research. We need to understand what works best for different crops, climate and regions. One formula cannot work everywhere,” Joshi said, stressing the need for a “deeper study”.

Launched in 2019, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) aims to increase the use of solar energy in agriculture. The scheme supports the installation of decentralised solar power plants, standalone solar-powered agricultural pumps and the solarisation of grid-connected agricultural pumps.