PM-KUSUM 2.0 for solar EPCs: the operations guide

PM-KUSUM is a central government scheme that brings solar to Indian agriculture, and it runs in three parts: grid-connected ground-mount plants on farmland, standalone off-grid solar water pumps, and the solarisation of existing grid-connected farm pumps and feeders. KUSUM 2.0 is the current, revised phase of that scheme. For a solar EPC, it is a whole second business next to rooftop — a different customer, a different way of winning work, and a longer service tail.

This guide is for the rooftop or C&I EPC owner asking a simple question: “should we do KUSUM, and what does running one of these jobs actually involve?” It explains the scheme in plain words, compares it honestly to PM Surya Ghar, breaks down Components A, B and C, and walks the job from tender to O&M. It does not quote you subsidy percentages, because those move — and getting them wrong on a bid is expensive.

What is PM-KUSUM 2.0?

PM-KUSUM is the scheme that puts solar to work on the farm — generating power on unused land, running irrigation pumps, and cutting the day-time power that farmers draw from the grid. The letters stand for Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan. KUSUM 2.0 simply means the current, revised version, with updated targets and terms.

Why should a rooftop EPC care? Because the demand base is enormous and it sits outside the rooftop crowd. India has millions of agricultural pump connections and a lot of underused farmland. KUSUM turns both into solar work. If your team already installs, wires, commissions and services solar, KUSUM is an adjacent line of business — not a new trade to learn.

The catch is that the operations are different enough to trip up a rooftop-only EPC. You are not chasing homeowner leads and filing on a national rooftop portal. You are empanelling with a state agency, responding to tenders, dealing with land or borewells, and signing up for years of maintenance. Treat KUSUM like rooftop and you will misprice the bid and under-plan the service.

How is PM-KUSUM different from PM Surya Ghar?

PM Surya Ghar is a rooftop scheme for homeowners; PM-KUSUM is an agriculture scheme for farmers — and almost every operational detail follows from that one difference. They are both MNRE solar schemes, so people mix them up. For an EPC deciding where to spend effort, the contrast matters far more than the similarity.

Read the last row twice. On PM Surya Ghar you win by quoting fast and running a tight, repeatable rooftop cycle — the exact machine we describe in the solar EPC operations guide. On KUSUM you win by qualifying for tenders, sizing the plant or pump right, and being able to service it for years. Same crews, different playbook.

What are Components A, B and C?

PM-KUSUM has three components, and each one is a different job with a different customer and a different scope for the EPC. You do not do “KUSUM” in general — you do Component A, or B, or C. Knowing which is which is the first step to deciding what your firm should bid for.

Where does volume live? For a mid-size EPC, Component B pumps often feel most familiar — many small, similar installs, a lot like running rooftop at scale. Components A and C pull you toward ground-mount, land and grid work, which is a bigger, lumpier job. Pick the component that fits the crews and capital you already have, rather than bidding for all three at once.

How does an EPC run a KUSUM job end to end?

A KUSUM job runs in seven operational steps — from empanelling with the state nodal agency to years of maintenance — and most of the risk sits at the two ends, tender and O&M, not the build in the middle. The construction stages will feel familiar if you do rooftop. The front and the back are what is new.

A few operational cautions worth pricing in. Tender qualification takes earnest money and paperwork — budget for bids you do not win. Land and water can stall a job before a panel is ordered, so verify title and borewell yield early. And module compliance still applies: subsidised KUSUM stock must be ALMM-listed, and those rules shift, so confirm the current ALMM and DCR position with MNRE before you buy.

Everything after the award — procurement tied to the bill of materials, photo-verified build stages, commissioning and sign-off — is the same operating discipline any solar job needs. If your rooftop operations already run clean, you have most of the KUSUM machine. You are bolting a tender front-end and a long service back-end onto a process you know.

Why KUSUM O&M is an operations opportunity

KUSUM ties a multi-year operation-and-maintenance obligation to almost every job, and that recurring service is an opportunity, not a burden — if you have a system to run it. Pumps and plants under the scheme typically carry a long O&M term, often around five years, and pumps are commonly watched by a remote monitoring system. Confirm the exact term and RMS requirement in your tender, because they vary.

Think about what that means. A rooftop AMC is optional and easy to let lapse. A KUSUM O&M obligation is written into the contract — you must service the asset for years, and your payment or performance security can depend on it. That flips maintenance from an afterthought into a core part of the deal you signed.

Running KUSUM O&M well needs the same things any solar service business needs:

• Scheduled visits across scattered rural sites, so preventive service actually happens on time.
• Mobile field checklists so each visit is proven and logged, not just claimed — usable offline where signal is weak.
• RMS-driven fault response so a pump fault raises a ticket and a visit, instead of a farmer’s phone call weeks later.
• Records for the nodal agency so you can show the O&M was delivered when it is time to release security or renew.

This is exactly the muscle an AMC and service module is built for. The EPCs that treat KUSUM O&M as a scheduled, monitored operation — rather than a promise they hope to keep — protect their security deposits and turn a compliance obligation into a genuine recurring-revenue line. Close this properly and the long tail of KUSUM becomes the most durable part of the job.

Running KUSUM jobs and AMC on one record with SuryaHub

SuryaHub keeps a KUSUM job — from tender through build to multi-year O&M — on one connected record, so a longer, multi-stage job does not fall apart between phases. KUSUM stretches a job over years and hands it between different owners, which is precisely where things get lost. One record per project is how you keep the whole thing visible.

On a live KUSUM job, SuryaHub ties the stages together:

• Lead & job file — hold the tender, site details, land or borewell notes and owner on one record from the start.
• Quotation & survey — size the plant or pump and build the bill of materials, with photo-verified site checks.
• Procurement & inventory — order ALMM stock and pumps against the bill of materials, with DCR and serial records kept for audit.
• Install & commissioning — the build stages with photo and GPS proof, then RMS fit and sign-off.
• AMC & O&M — auto-scheduled visits and renewal reminders so a multi-year service obligation never slips.

Here is the honest part. SuryaHub is pre-revenue and building alongside two pilot EPCs, Suryantra Energy and RGESPL. We are not going to show you invented KUSUM install counts or a wall of customer logos that do not exist. There is no native array-design or plant-design engine here — SuryaHub captures a structured survey and quotes from your rate cards, so bring your own design tool. And any AI features you may have seen are on our roadmap, not shipped. We would rather say that plainly now than surprise you later.

Frequently asked questions

What is PM-KUSUM 2.0?

PM-KUSUM is a central government scheme that brings solar to Indian agriculture. It has three parts: grid-connected ground-mount plants on farmland, standalone off-grid solar water pumps, and the solarisation of existing grid-connected farm pumps and feeders. KUSUM 2.0 refers to the current, revised phase. Subsidy shares and state capacities change often, so confirm the live terms with MNRE or your state nodal agency.

How is PM-KUSUM different from PM Surya Ghar?

PM Surya Ghar is a rooftop scheme for homeowners, run through DISCOMs and the national portal, with subsidy paid to the customer by DBT. PM-KUSUM serves farmers, co-ops and panchayats on agricultural land, and it runs through state nodal agencies and tenders, not a single national rooftop portal. One is a small rooftop job; the other is an agri-solar or pump job.

What are Components A, B and C of PM-KUSUM?

Component A is grid-connected ground-mount solar on barren or fallow land, built by farmers or co-ops who sell power to the DISCOM. Component B is standalone off-grid solar water pumps for farms with no grid. Component C is the solarisation of existing grid-connected agricultural pumps, plus feeder-level solarisation. Each component has a different customer and a different EPC scope of work.

Who is the customer for a PM-KUSUM project?

The customer is agricultural, not residential. It can be an individual farmer, a group of farmers, a farmer producer organisation, a co-operative, a panchayat or a water-user association, depending on the component. The buying and approval body is usually the state nodal agency or DISCOM that floats the tender, so EPC selling looks more like tender response than rooftop lead follow-up.

How does an EPC win PM-KUSUM work?

Most PM-KUSUM work is won through state nodal agency or DISCOM tenders and empanelment, not walk-in leads. An EPC registers or empanels with the state agency, watches for tenders by component, and bids with the required earnest money and technical qualifications. After award, the job moves into land or site checks, pump or plant sizing, installation, and long-term operation and maintenance.

Does PM-KUSUM include O&M or AMC?

Yes. KUSUM pumps and plants typically carry a multi-year operation and maintenance obligation, often around five years, and pumps are commonly monitored by a remote monitoring system. That makes O&M a real operations commitment, not an afterthought. Confirm the exact O&M term and RMS requirement in your tender, because they vary by state, component and revision of the scheme.

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