“There are as many as 6.4 lakh electric pumps installed in the state. Almost half of them are unmetered. So, there is misuse of electricity,” he said during a panel discussion on ‘Power for all: Claims vs reality’ at the MAIL TODAY 4th Energy Summit. In the next two to three years, the whole of Haryana will start getting 24×7 power supply provided the electricity bill collection goes up, he added.

The misuse can be curbed to a large extent if these pumps are replaced with solar-powered pumps. Recently, there was a plan to set up 1.5 lakh such pumps in the state, but that has been clubbed with the KUSUM scheme, Shukla said.

The Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahaabhiyan (KUSUM) is a Rs 1.4 lakh crore central government scheme planned to promote the use of solar power among farmers. It will be implemented from July and farmers will be provided with 27.5 lakh solar water pumps.

The government has planned to provide 27.5 lakh solar pumps (17.50 lakh standalone + 10 lakh grid-connected). It will help farmers install total 10 GW of Solar Power Plants of intermediate capacity of 0.5 to 2 MW each. However, not everybody should be allowed to generate power because under the scheme the farmer can sell surplus power to the grid, Shukla said.

“If there 1.5 lakh solar pumps in a small state like Haryana, on a day when there is no requirement if all these pumps generate a huge amount of power and feed it to the grid, what will the discom with it?” he said.

Smart Power India senior director Chandan Mishra also said that KUSUM has to be a standalone project and not be connected to the grid. Otherwise, it will also be a technical nightmare to manage so many generators pumping into a grid. Further, this will also keep farmers in check as they will know that the power is for a limited period and not for an entire day. As it is farmers leave their pumps on the whole day because they don’t know when they will get power, instead of just four hours a day.