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Nearly a third of India's farmland could potentially generate solar power without being taken out of agricultural use, but making such projects commercially viable will require lower costs and support for farmers, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Prahlad Joshi said.
Estimates suggest that around 47.75 million hectares of agricultural land, or 30% of India's farmland, is technically suitable for agrivoltaics — the practice of installing solar panels above crops so that the same land can produce both food and electricity.
Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh together account for nearly half of the country's estimated potential, Joshi said.
The opportunity comes with a practical constraint. Around 85% of India's farmers are small or marginal landholders, who may not be able to stop cultivation or set aside farmland for conventional solar projects.
Joshi said one megawatt of solar capacity typically requires around four acres of land. Agrivoltaics could help address this constraint by allowing farmers to continue growing crops beneath elevated solar panels while generating additional income from electricity.
But the model comes at a higher upfront cost. Agrivoltaic projects are estimated to cost 25%-30% more than conventional ground-mounted solar installations because they require elevated structures and additional infrastructure.
Joshi called for greater scale to bring down costs and improve the commercial viability of such projects.
The economics remain a challenge. Electricity supply costs averaged around ₹7 per unit in 2026, while estimates put the cost of power generated through elevated agrivoltaic installations at ₹3.20 per unit, compared with ₹2.60 for conventional ground-mounted solar projects.
The gap between the two solar technologies will need to be addressed to make agrivoltaics more attractive to investors and developers, he said.
Government weighs support scheme
The government is working on a preliminary policy framework for agrivoltaics and is expected to release a draft, Joshi said. It also plans to announce a scheme for polysilicon, a key raw material used in manufacturing solar cells, shortly.
Separately, renewable energy secretary Santosh Kumar Sarangi recently said the government was working with the Finance Ministry and consulting the Agriculture Ministry on a possible central scheme to help states deploy solar panels over agricultural fields.
The government is considering whether the proposed support should be incorporated into the existing PM-KUSUM scheme, which promotes solar energy use in agriculture, or introduced under a separate programme.
The design of the scheme could help determine how quickly agrivoltaics moves from pilot projects to wider deployment across Indian farms.
Not every crop may benefit
Agrivoltaics has expanded globally, with installed capacity exceeding 18.4 gigawatts, Joshi said. The technology could also support employment, with estimates pointing to the potential to generate 332,000 full-time-equivalent jobs in India.
However, its suitability depends on local sunlight conditions and the crops being grown. Sarangi said India's solar potential varies by region, with western and southern states and Ladakh receiving high levels of solar radiation, while the Northeast has comparatively low global horizontal irradiance. Much of the rest of the country falls into a moderate range.
Early assessments suggest that rice, wheat and sugarcane may not be suitable for agrivoltaic installations in some settings. Green leafy vegetables, by contrast, have shown promising responses, including improvements in productivity, Sarangi said.
The findings underline a central challenge for policymakers: solar panels must generate enough electricity to justify their higher installation costs without reducing agricultural output.
For a country seeking to expand renewable energy while protecting the livelihoods of millions of small farmers, the success of agrivoltaics will depend on whether both activities can deliver sufficient returns from the same piece of land.
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