Agri-Solar in Telangana: How Farmers Are Earning from Empty Sky

Rabi Reddy owns 4 acres of groundnut fields in Nalgonda district. He installed an agri-solar system on 2 of those acres two years ago. The groundnut yield from the shaded land is marginally lower than the open acreage — but the electricity income from the solar array above it more than doubles his total income per acre.

He’s not the only one. Across Telangana, and more broadly across South India, a growing number of farmers are discovering that the sky above their fields is as productive as the soil below it — if equipped correctly.

This article explains how agri-solar works, what structures make it possible, what it costs, and what the realistic income numbers look like for Telangana farmers in 2025.

What Agri-Solar Actually Is

Agri-solar — also called agrivoltaics — is the practice of installing elevated solar panels above agricultural land while continuing to farm the land below. The solar panels generate electricity. The crops grow beneath them. The same land produces two income streams simultaneously.

The key word is elevated. Standard ground-mount solar structures sit close to the ground and exclude agricultural use entirely. Agri-solar structures are engineered with columns tall enough — typically a minimum of 7 metres clearance — for farm equipment, workers, and crop canopies to move freely below the panel array.

This sounds simple. The engineering is not. An elevated structure with 7-metre-plus columns faces dramatically higher wind moment loads at the column base than a conventional ground-mount. The foundations must be deeper. The steel must be heavier. The structural design must account for the specific wind zone — in Telangana’s open terrain, basic wind speed is 39–44 m/s depending on location.

Done correctly, agri-solar is an elegant solution to one of India’s most pressing resource conflicts: the competition between agricultural land and renewable energy land. Done with the wrong structure, it is an expensive liability.

What Telangana’s Climate Makes Possible

Telangana is one of India’s most solar-productive states. Most districts receive 5.5–6.2 peak sun hours per day on average across the year, with particularly high irradiance between February and June. This places Telangana in the top tier of Indian states for solar energy generation per installed kW.

Telangana’s agricultural economy is equally significant. The state grows cotton, red chillies, turmeric, maize, and groundnut at scale. Many of these crops have a complex relationship with direct sunlight — some benefit from partial shade during the hottest months, reducing heat stress and water evaporation.

Research from Indian agri-solar installations — including studies from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and field data from MP, Rajasthan, and Telangana pilot projects — shows consistent findings: crops like turmeric, ginger, leafy vegetables, and certain pulses perform comparably or better under solar panel shade than in full sun. Water-stressed crops in particular benefit from the reduction in direct solar radiation during peak summer.

This is not universal. Paddy, cotton, and sunflower are less compatible with shade. The best agri-solar systems match crop selection to shading patterns deliberately.

The PM-KUSUM Connection

PM-KUSUM (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan) is the central government’s programme to solarise Indian agriculture. Component A of PM-KUSUM — 10,000 MW of decentralised ground-mount solar plants on barren or agricultural land — is directly relevant to agri-solar.

Under Component A, farmer-owned solar plants of 500 kW to 2 MW capacity can supply power to the grid under long-term Power Purchase Agreements with state DISCOMs. Telangana has been an active implementation state, with TSSPDCL operating its own variant of this framework.

For eligible farmers, PM-KUSUM Component A provides:
30% central financial assistance on the benchmark cost
State-level additional subsidies in many cases
A 25-year guaranteed power purchase agreement with the state DISCOM

This makes the financial case for agri-solar compelling for farmers with land eligible for KUSUM applications. The structure becomes an income-generating infrastructure asset rather than purely an operating cost.

The Numbers: What Farmers Are Actually Earning

The following illustrative figures are based on typical 2 MW agri-solar installations in Telangana under KUSUM-type PPA structures:

System size: 2 MW on approximately 8–10 acres
Structure type: Elevated agri-solar mounting, 7.5m clearance, IS 875-compliant
Total system cost: ₹8–11 crore (before subsidies; KUSUM assistance reduces effective cost by 30%+)
Annual energy generation: Approximately 28–32 lakh kWh in Telangana irradiance conditions
PPA tariff: ₹2.80–3.40/unit (varies by DISCOM and tender)
Annual electricity revenue: ₹78 lakh – ₹1.1 crore
Continuing agricultural income from below: Variable by crop, typically ₹60,000–₹1.2 lakh/acre/year

For a farmer who previously earned ₹4–6 lakh per year from 8 acres of dryland agriculture, a KUSUM-assisted agri-solar installation transforms the economics of the land fundamentally.

What the Right Structure Looks Like

Agri-solar structures are structurally more demanding than standard ground mounts and the consequences of using inadequate structures are magnified — elevated structures in open agricultural terrain face higher wind exposures and have more at stake if they fail.

The structural requirements for a proper agri-solar installation include minimum 7-metre clearance from ground to the underside of the lowest panel (to accommodate standard tractor heights), heavy-section IS 4923 galvanised steel columns with RCC deep foundations designed to resist the elevated wind moment loads, maintenance walkways at the panel level for regular cleaning (essential in dusty agricultural environments), and IS 875 Part 3 wind load compliance for the open terrain category that most agricultural sites fall under.

Column foundations for elevated agri-solar structures need to be significantly deeper and larger than standard ground-mount foundations — typically 1.2–1.8 metre depth and larger diameter footings — because the elevated column height dramatically increases the overturning moment at the foundation.

Vlux designs and manufactures elevated agri-solar structures for Telangana and AP farmers, with full structural engineering, IS 875 compliance documentation, and KUSUM scheme-compatible specifications. If you’re exploring agri-solar on your land, contact our team for a free feasibility assessment.