The Indian government is preparing a policy to promote agrivoltaics, which combines crop cultivation and solar power generation on the same land. The initiative is intended to raise farmers’ income while expanding renewable energy capacity and addressing the availability of land for large solar projects. Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi said around 30 per cent of India’s 160 mn hectares of cropland could be suitable for agrivoltaic projects. He said 4 acres of land are required to install 1 MW of solar capacity, while noting that about 85 per cent of Indian farmers are small and marginal and cannot discontinue cultivation to make land available for solar generation. Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh together account for nearly 50 per cent of the country’s estimated agrivoltaic potential. The global agrivoltaic market has exceeded 18.4 GW of installed capacity, and India is examining international models, including support programmes in Italy, preferential tariffs in Japan and crop-yield requirements linked to support in Germany. Joshi said agrivoltaic plants cost 25 to 30 per cent more than conventional ground-mounted solar projects because of elevated structures and additional infrastructure. Generation costs were estimated at Rs. 3.20 per unit for elevated photovoltaic systems, compared with Rs. 2.60 per unit for ground-mounted projects. Field studies have indicated yield improvements of 10 to 20 per cent for certain crops and water savings of about 30 per cent under suitable systems. The proposed programme will initially target 5 GW over the next few years and may include a dedicated 10-GW agri-PV component under PM-KUSUM 2.0. Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said designs must preserve cultivation and allow machinery movement, ploughing and changes in crops. The draft policy will be placed in the public domain for comments from states and other stakeholders. Decentralised solar capacity reached 16.3 GW in the previous year, including 7.6 GW under PM-KUSUM and 8.7 GW under rooftop solar, with the latter serving 6,300,000 beneficiaries.