The 7th AgriVoltaics World Conference opened at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, on 21 October 2026, and runs until 23 October. It is the first edition held in the Global South, and it was inaugurated jointly by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and the Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy. The New and Renewable Energy Minister announced that the next phase of PM-KUSUM would carry what he called one of the world's most ambitious agrivoltaic programmes.
Most of what was said at the inaugural session was about scale: hectares, terawatt-hours, jobs. The more useful part of the day was the Agriculture Minister's list of practical conditions, because that list is where the technology either works for an Indian farmer or does not.
What agrivoltaics actually is
Agrivoltaics (also written agri-PV or AgriPV) is the simultaneous use of the same land for crop production and solar electricity generation. The panels sit above or between the crops, and the farm continues as a farm. The government's phrase for it is "one land, two harvests".
The distinction that matters is from conventional ground-mounted solar, where the land under the panels stops being agricultural land. A ground-mounted park converts farmland into a power station. An agrivoltaic installation is meant to add a power station to a farm without removing the farm.
There are three broad designs:
- Elevated (overhead) systems — panels on stilts, high enough for people and machinery to work underneath.
- Interspace systems — rows of panels at ground level with cultivated strips between the rows.
- Vertical bifacial systems — panels mounted upright like a fence, usually facing east and west, collecting light on both faces and leaving almost the entire field open.
Germany's technical standard, DIN SPEC 91434 (2021), formalises the first two. Category I covers overhead systems with a clearance above 2.1 metres; Category II covers interspace systems below that height. The standard caps the land lost to the installation at 10% of the project area for Category I and 15% for Category II, and requires the agricultural yield to reach at least 66% of a reference yield. That is what the Indian minister meant when he said Germany "links support to continued agricultural use and minimum crop-yield requirements". The rule exists to stop solar developers from calling a solar park "agrivoltaic" while growing a token crop beneath it.
Why the combination can work better than either alone
The physical case rests on two effects that run in opposite directions and both help.
Partial shade changes the microclimate under the panels. Soil and leaves lose less water to evaporation and transpiration, and in hot, dry conditions some crops are stressed less. That is the basis of the figures quoted at the conference: field studies indicating yield improvements of 10-20% for certain crops and water savings of about 30% under suitable systems.
The crops cool the panels. Silicon solar cells lose output as their temperature rises. Vegetation beneath releases water vapour and keeps the air around the modules cooler than bare ground or gravel would, so the panels run slightly more efficiently than they would over a hot surface.
The words "certain crops" and "suitable systems" carry the weight. Shade-tolerant crops — leafy vegetables, some spices, fodder, several horticultural crops — tend to benefit. Sun-hungry cereals grown for grain often lose yield under heavy shade. Agrivoltaics is not a universal improvement on farming; it is a design problem whose answer depends on the crop, the climate and the panel layout.
The numbers, and what they are numbers of
The headline estimate came from a June 2026 report by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and the Energy Transitions Commission, Unlocking Solar at Scale. Its method and results, as the MNRE release and the report itself state them:
| Step | Figure |
|---|---|
| Cropland screened | 160 million hectares |
| Technically suitable for agrivoltaics | 47.5 million hectares (about 30% of cropland) |
| Realistic deployment scenario | about 16 million hectares |
| Generation in that scenario | up to 12,775 TWh a year |
| India's projected electricity demand in 2050 | 5,250-10,020 TWh |
| Share of potential in six states | about 50% — Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh |
Three cautions belong next to that table. Technical potential is not deployable potential: the 47.5 million hectare figure screens out land that is physically unsuitable, such as steep or flood-prone fields; it does not screen for whether a farmer wants panels, whether the grid can take the power, or whether a buyer exists. The 16 million hectare scenario is still enormous. India's entire electricity generation today is of the order of 2,000 TWh a year, so the scenario describes a system several times larger than the present one. And the MNRE Minister said plainly that these were technical estimates and that actual deployment would depend on local conditions and feasibility. That caveat is the honest part of the figure.
Where the two ministries' releases disagree
The Agriculture Ministry's and MNRE's releases on the same inaugural session do not match each other in two places, and a candidate who reads both will notice.
- The land base. MNRE's release refers to 160 million hectares of cropland, consistent with the TERI-ETC report. The Agriculture Ministry's release says "116 million hectares of agricultural land" while still giving 47.5 million hectares as "approximately 30 per cent" — but 47.5 is 30% of 160, not of 116.
- The scenario. The Agriculture release says installations on 10% of the suitable area could meet India's entire projected 2050 demand. MNRE's release attaches the 12,775 TWh figure to a 16 million hectare scenario, which is roughly a third of the suitable area.
- The pumps. The MNRE Secretary put solarised pumps under PM-KUSUM at about 25 lakh; the Agriculture release attributes 30 lakh to the MNRE Minister.
The MNRE figures agree with the source report, and those are the ones to carry. Where official figures conflict, an examiner sets the question on the figure from the authoritative source, and here that is the report the ministers were quoting.
PM-KUSUM, and what its next phase is being asked to do
PM-KUSUM — Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan — was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in February 2019 and is administered by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. It has three components:
- Component A — decentralised, grid-connected renewable power plants of 500 kW to 2 MW set up by farmers, cooperatives, panchayats or FPOs on barren or cultivable land, selling power to the DISCOM. The later guidelines explicitly allow stilt-mounted plants, which is the doorway agrivoltaics walks through.
- Component B — standalone solar pumps for farmers off the grid, replacing diesel pumps.
- Component C — solarisation of existing grid-connected pumps, either pump by pump or at the level of the whole agricultural feeder (feeder-level solarisation).
The scheme's target was revised upward to about 34,800 MW and its period extended, with projects already under way given until 31 March 2027 to complete. Component C is the quiet success of the scheme because it changes the economics of the farm pump: a farmer with a solarised pump can irrigate by day rather than waiting for night-time rural supply, and can sell surplus power to the DISCOM.
The MNRE Minister gave the decentralised totals for the previous year as 16.3 GW: 7.6 GW under PM-KUSUM and 8.7 GW of rooftop solar, mostly through the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, which has crossed 63 lakh beneficiaries. The new phase is meant to add something PM-KUSUM was never designed around — power generation that leaves the field under cultivation.
The cost gap, and who is asked to bear it
The release is unusually frank about money. Elevated and tilted structures make agrivoltaic plants 25-30% more expensive than conventional ground-mounted solar, because steel that lifts panels 3 metres into the air costs more than racks bolted near the ground. The government's stated intention is to bridge that cost gap by supporting AgriPV capacity.
The other side of the arithmetic: the average cost of electricity supply was about ₹7 per unit in 2025-26, while some agrivoltaic assessments indicate generation costs of ₹3.20-3.30 per unit under specific assumptions. Non-fossil electricity has fallen, in the Minister's figures, from ₹11 a unit in 2012-13 to about ₹2.60 today. The opportunity is that cheap solar power generated close to where farm load sits avoids long transmission, and the gap between ₹3.30 and ₹7 is where the farmer's second income is supposed to come from.
The Agriculture Minister's conditions
This is the section of the day worth reading slowly, because it describes the Indian field rather than the global one. India's average landholding is 0.96 hectares, and more than 85% of farmers are small and marginal. Such a farmer cannot hand land over to a solar plant; the plant has to work on top of the farm or not at all. From that starting point, the Minister set out what a viable system must provide:
- Panel height and pillar spacing that let a tractor plough and let the farmer change crops and cropping patterns from year to year.
- Drainage and rainwater harvesting, because rain running off a panel falls in a concentrated line and can erode the soil beneath — the problem every solar installer knows as the drip line.
- Assured purchase, grid connection and timely payment for the power generated.
- Safeguards if a developer abandons the project midway or the panels must be removed when a contract ends — so that the farmer is not left with steel in the field and no income.
- A role for Farmer Producer Organisations, and training rural youth and women to operate and maintain the equipment.
Taken together, the list amounts to a warning: an agrivoltaic policy written for a 100-hectare corporate farm will fail on a 1-hectare holding. The design specifications that suit an Indian smallholder are a policy decision, not an engineering detail.
Capacity is not generation
The MNRE Minister said India's non-fossil installed capacity stands at 308.03 GW, more than 55% of total installed capacity of about 560 GW. That is a real milestone, built on top of the earlier crossing of 300 GW of non-fossil capacity. But it is a share of capacity — what the plants could produce at full output — not a share of the electricity actually generated. Solar plants run at full output for a fraction of the day, coal plants for most of it, so the non-fossil share of generation is considerably lower than the share of capacity. The same trap was dissected when 42% of capacity was presented as if it were 42% of electricity. Agrivoltaics matters partly because it adds solar generation close to rural load without competing for scarce land.
The conference and its international frame
The AgriVoltaics World Conference series began in 2020 as an online event hosted by France's agricultural research institute INRAE. The 2021 edition was also online, hosted by Fraunhofer ISE; later editions met at Piacenza, Italy (2022), Daegu, South Korea (2023), Denver, USA (2024) and Freiburg, Germany (2025). The 2026 New Delhi edition carries the theme "Powering the Global South".
Ministers cited the global market as having passed 18.4 GW of installed agrivoltaic capacity in 2025, and three national models: Italy's €1.7 billion programme for farmers, developers and researchers; Japan's opening of all farmland categories to agrivoltaics with preferential tariffs for small systems; and Germany's conditional support. The Director General of the International Solar Alliance and the Indo-German Cooperation on Agrivoltaics were part of the inaugural session, and a Global Agrivoltaics Climate-Zone Technical Framework was launched to help governments and developers move from isolated pilots to standards. A study cited from the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) estimates 1.10 lakh to 3.32 lakh full-time-equivalent jobs from the sector.
🔑 Revision block
- The event: 7th AgriVoltaics World Conference, 21-23 October 2026, Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi — the first in the Global South; theme "Powering the Global South".
- Earlier editions: 2020 and 2021 online; Piacenza 2022, Daegu 2023, Denver 2024, Freiburg 2025.
- Agrivoltaics: simultaneous crop production and solar generation on the same land; designs are elevated, interspace and vertical bifacial.
- DIN SPEC 91434 (Germany, 2021): Category I clearance > 2.1 m; land-loss caps 10% / 15%; yield at least 66% of reference.
- TERI-ETC (June 2026): 47.5 Mha technically suitable (≈ 30% of 160 Mha cropland); 16 Mha scenario → up to 12,775 TWh/year against 2050 demand of 5,250-10,020 TWh.
- Release conflict: the Agriculture release says 116 Mha and "10%" of the suitable area; MNRE's figures match the report.
- PM-KUSUM: approved February 2019, MNRE; A = 500 kW-2 MW plants (stilt-mounted allowed), B = standalone pumps, C = solarisation of grid pumps incl. feeder level; target about 34,800 MW.
- Economics: AgriPV 25-30% costlier than ground-mounted; generation ₹3.20-3.30/unit vs supply cost about ₹7/unit.
- Farm reality: average holding 0.96 ha; 85%+ small and marginal farmers.
- Capacity vs generation: non-fossil 308.03 GW = 55%+ of ~560 GW capacity — a capacity share, not a generation share.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. The AgriVoltaics World Conference 2026 held in New Delhi was notable as: (a) the first edition of the conference ever held (b) the first edition held in the Global South (c) the first edition hosted by the International Solar Alliance (d) the first edition to be held online
→ (b) It is the seventh edition and the first in the Global South; the series began online in 2020.
Q2. Agrivoltaics refers to: (a) using the same land simultaneously for crop production and solar power generation (b) converting degraded farmland permanently into solar parks (c) powering agricultural machinery exclusively with batteries (d) floating solar panels on irrigation reservoirs
→ (a) The defining feature is that farming continues beneath or between the panels; a ground-mounted park that ends cultivation is not agrivoltaic.
Q3. Consider the following statements about the effects of an agrivoltaic installation: 1. Partial shade can reduce water loss from soil and plants. 2. Silicon solar cells generally produce more output as their temperature rises. Which is/are correct? (a) 1 and 2 (b) 2 only (c) 1 only (d) Neither 1 nor 2
→ (c) Silicon cells lose efficiency as they heat up, which is why the cooling effect of crops beneath the panels helps generation.
Q4. According to the TERI-ETC estimate cited at the conference, the area of Indian cropland technically suitable for agrivoltaics is about: (a) 4.75 million hectares (b) 16 million hectares (c) 116 million hectares (d) 47.5 million hectares
→ (d) About 47.5 million hectares, roughly 30% of the 160 million hectares screened; 16 million hectares is the realistic deployment scenario.
Q5. Under PM-KUSUM, Component C relates to: (a) solarisation of existing grid-connected agricultural pumps (b) standalone off-grid solar pumps (c) rooftop solar on rural households (d) offshore wind on the western coast
→ (a) Component C solarises existing grid-connected pumps, individually or at the level of the whole agricultural feeder; Component B covers standalone pumps.
Q6. PM-KUSUM is administered by the: (a) Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (b) Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (c) Ministry of Power (d) Ministry of Jal Shakti
→ (b) MNRE runs the scheme; its next phase is being developed together with the Agriculture Ministry.
Q7. Under Germany's DIN SPEC 91434, the agricultural yield of an agrivoltaic system must reach at least what share of the reference yield? (a) 33% (b) 50% (c) 66% (d) 90%
→ (c) At least 66%, alongside caps of 10% (Category I) and 15% (Category II) on land lost to the installation.
Q8. India's non-fossil sources account for more than 55% of the country's installed electricity capacity. This means that: (a) non-fossil sources form more than half of the capacity, but not necessarily more than half of the electricity generated (b) more than half of India's electricity is now generated from non-fossil sources (c) coal-based capacity has fallen below 100 GW (d) India has met its 2070 net-zero target
→ (a) Capacity measures potential output at full rating; solar plants run at full output for only part of the day, so the generation share is lower.
Q9. The main reason agrivoltaic plants cost more than conventional ground-mounted solar is: (a) higher prices for bifacial silicon cells (b) mandatory battery storage at every site (c) import duties on inverters (d) elevated and tilted support structures
→ (d) Lifting panels high enough for machinery to work beneath requires more steel and foundations, adding about 25-30% to cost.
Q10. Which of the following was NOT among the practical conditions the Agriculture Minister set out for agrivoltaics on small farms? (a) panel height and pillar spacing allowing ploughing (b) mandatory conversion of the plot to a non-agricultural land use (c) drainage and rainwater harvesting below the panels (d) safeguards if a developer abandons the project midway
→ (b) The whole point of agrivoltaics is that the land stays agricultural; conversion is what conventional solar parks do.
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Renewable energy is a reliable source of CDS questions, and the pattern is consistent: the paper tests schemes against their ministries and components, and concepts against their definitions, far more than it tests the venue of a conference.
The first form is the scheme-component question. PM-KUSUM has three components, and a match-the-following or "which component deals with" item is easy to set. Component A is the small grid-connected plant, B the standalone pump, C the solarisation of existing pumps. Candidates mix up B and C more than anything else.
The second is the ministry question. PM-KUSUM is MNRE, not the Agriculture Ministry; PM Surya Ghar is MNRE too. The joint inauguration at this conference makes the distractor more tempting than usual.
The third is the concept question — "agrivoltaics refers to" — usually with floating solar, solar parks on wasteland and canal-top solar as distractors. Each of those is a real Indian land-saving solar model, which is exactly why they make good wrong answers.
The fourth, and the one that rewards careful reading, is the capacity-versus-generation statement. "India generates more than half its electricity from non-fossil sources" is false; "non-fossil sources account for more than half of installed capacity" is true. The paper writes both versions.
For a written answer on land use and the energy transition, the proposition worth making is that India's constraint is not sunlight but land, and that agrivoltaics is valuable only if it keeps farms farming. State the technical potential, state that it is a technical estimate, set out the smallholder conditions — machinery clearance, drainage, assured purchase, exit safeguards — and argue that the design standard, not the hectare figure, decides whether the policy succeeds.
Preparing for CDS/OTA? For every energy scheme, learn the ministry, the year and the components — that table answers most of what the paper asks. Start with our CDS/OTA study material, follow the daily CDS current affairs, and prepare with our faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by Hitendra Deswal — Environment & Polity faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk.