Ahmednagar to soon have its first solar agri-feeder

28 Mar 2023 CW Team

Farmers in Ahmednagar district may soon have access to reliable agricultural power. The government has purchased 5.45 hectares of land in order to build the district's first solar agriculture-feeder plant.

The five MW feeder will be built as part of the Chief Minister Solar Agriculture project in two villages in Rahata taluk: Kelwad Budruk and Kelward Khurd. The solar feeder will generate power that will be connected to the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) grid, allowing for daytime electricity supply for agricultural purposes.

Currently, electricity is provided to agriculture power connections in the district in three phases — morning, evening, and midnight — on a rotating basis. Farmers have been demanding 12 hours of daytime electricity supply, and this project aims to meet their needs.

Rahata tehsildar Kunday Hiray stated that the district's guardian minister, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, was instrumental in the project's establishment in the taluka. "Based on his instructions, we came up with a suitable space for the project," he explained.

According to officials, the number of agricultural power connections linked to the plant will be determined by the amount of electricity generated by it. The process of transferring the land in the name of Mahavitaran was thus completed, and the MSEDCL would now build its 5MW solar power plant.

Recently, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis stated that by the end of this year, 30% of all agriculture feeders in the state would be powered by solar energy, with government land as well as unused infertile lands being used for the purpose.

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